Creating a robots txt or robot text file for your website is a simple process. Here are the steps to create a basic robots txt file:
1. Open a plain text editor such as Notepad, TextEdit, or Sublime Text.
2. Create a new file and save it with the name "robots.txt" in the root directory of your website. This is usually the main folder where your homepage resides.
3. In the file, specify which parts of your website you want to allow or disallow to web robots. Here's a basic example:
User-agent: * Disallow: /private/
This example would disallow all web robots (specified by "*") from accessing the "private" folder on your website.
4. Save the file and upload it to the root directory of your website using an FTP client or your website's file manager.
5. Test your robots.txt file using Google's robots.txt tester tool or other similar tools to make sure it is working as expected.
Note that robots.txt is a voluntary standard, and some robots may ignore it. It is not a security measure and should not be used to block access to sensitive information.
Why We Need Robots Txt File?
A robots txt file is a tool that website owners use to communicate with web robots or crawlers about how they should interact with their website. The file is a simple text file that contains instructions for crawlers, including search engine bots, on which pages or sections of the website they are allowed to access, and which pages or sections should be excluded from indexing.
Here are some reasons why website owners use robots.txt files:
1. Improve website performance: By excluding certain sections of a website from being crawled, it can help reduce server load and improve website performance.
2. Protect sensitive information: A robots.txt file can be used to restrict access to sensitive information or files, such as admin pages, login pages, or other confidential data that should not be indexed.
3. Control indexing of duplicate content: If a website has duplicate content, a robots.txt file can be used to instruct search engines not to index those pages, which can help prevent negative effects on search engine rankings.
4. Avoid crawling of irrelevant content: If a website has pages that are not relevant for search engine results, such as temporary pages, test pages, or other similar pages, a robots.txt file can be used to exclude them from being crawled.
A robots txt file is a useful tool for website owners to control how search engine bots interact with their website, which can help improve website performance, protect sensitive information, and ensure that only relevant pages are indexed.
How Useful Creating Robots Txt File ?
Creating a robots.txt file for your website can be very useful for a number of reasons, such as:
1. Controlling web crawler access: A robots.txt file can tell web crawlers which pages they are allowed to access and which ones they should not crawl. This can help prevent unnecessary crawling and indexing of pages that you do not want indexed by search engines.
2. Preventing duplicate content: If your website has pages with duplicate content, a robots.txt file can instruct search engine crawlers not to index these pages, which can help avoid negative SEO consequences, such as a lower search engine ranking.
3. Protecting sensitive information: A robots.txt file can be used to block web crawlers from accessing sensitive information, such as login pages or admin areas, which can help keep your website secure.
4. Improving website performance: By excluding certain sections of your website from being crawled, you can reduce the load on your server, which can help improve website performance.
5. Ensuring compliance with legal requirements: In some countries, there are laws or regulations that require website owners to provide certain information to web crawlers or block access to certain pages. A robots txt file can help ensure compliance with these requirements.
Overall, a robots txt file is a simple and effective tool that can help you control how web crawlers interact with your website, protect sensitive information, and improve website performance. It is a best practice to create and maintain a robots.txt file for your website.
What is Robots Txt in Sitemap ?
Robots txt is a standard used by websites to communicate with web robots or crawlers about which parts of the website should be crawled or not. The file is a simple text file that is placed in the root directory of a website and contains instructions for web crawlers on which pages or sections of the website they are allowed to access, and which pages or sections should be excluded from indexing.
The robots.txt file can be used to control which search engines crawl your site, how frequently they crawl it, and which pages they should not crawl. It is a voluntary standard that most search engines obey, but not all robots will follow its instructions. Therefore, it should not be relied upon as a security measure or as a way to protect sensitive information.
Robots.txt is a file that website owners create to give instructions to search engine crawlers or robots about which pages or files on their website should be crawled and indexed, and which ones should be ignored. It is a standard used by websites to communicate with web crawlers and other automated agents, such as those used by search engines, social media platforms, and other web services.
The robots.txt file is typically placed in the root directory of a website and can be accessed by adding "/robots.txt" to the end of the website's URL. The file can contain various instructions, such as disallowing certain pages or directories from being crawled, specifying the location of the website's sitemap, and setting crawl-delay parameters to control how quickly the crawler should access the site.
Website owners use the robots.txt file to ensure that their website content is properly indexed by search engines and to prevent sensitive or confidential information from being inadvertently exposed to the public. However, it's important to note that the instructions in the robots.txt file are not enforceable and can be ignored by web crawlers that don't follow the standard.
Sample of Robots Txt file || Example of Robots Text
Here is an example of a robots.txt file for the website https://gytechknow.blogspot.com/
User-agent:*
Disallow:/search
Disallow: /p/
Disallow: /feeds/
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://gytechknow.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
In this example, the robots.txt file allows all web crawlers (User-agent: *) to crawl and index the website, except for the following pages or directories which are disallowed (Disallow:):/search: This is the search page of the website.
/p/: This refers to individual posts on the website.
/feeds/: This is the location of the website's RSS feed.
The robots.txt file also includes an "Allow" directive that allows crawlers to access all other pages and directories on the website.
Finally, the robots.txt file includes a "Sitemap" directive that specifies the location of the website's sitemap, which helps search engines to discover and index all pages on the website.
