Robots.txt Generator
Create and customize robots.txt files to control how search engines crawl your website
Choose a Template (Optional)
Start with a pre-configured template or build from scratch
Allow All
Most websitesAllow all crawlers to access everything
Block All
Development sitesBlock all crawlers from the entire site
WordPress Default
WordPress sitesCommon WordPress setup blocking admin and includes
E-commerce
Online storesBlock cart, checkout, and account pages
Development Site
Staging sitesBlock all crawlers except from specific IPs
Configure Crawling Rules
Define which crawlers can access what parts of your site
Common Patterns:
/admin/ - Block directory/*.pdf - Block file type/*?* - Block URLs with parameters* - WildcardAdditional Settings (Optional)
Add sitemaps and configure crawl delays
Delay between successive crawler requests (not supported by all crawlers)
No sitemaps added. Click "Add Sitemap" to include sitemap URLs.
Implementation Instructions
How to add robots.txt to your website
Download the file
Click the "Download" button above to save your robots.txt file
Upload to your website root
Place the file at: https://yoursite.com/robots.txt
Access methods
- • FTP/SFTP: Upload via FileZilla or similar
- • cPanel: Use File Manager in hosting control panel
- • WordPress: Use plugin or theme editor
- • CMS: Check your CMS documentation
Test your robots.txt
Verify it's working correctly:
Note: Changes may take 24-48 hours to be recognized by all search engines
Generated robots.txt
✓ Valid format: Your robots.txt is properly formatted and ready to use
What is a robots.txt file?
A robots.txt file is a text file placed at the root of your website that tells search engine crawlers which pages or files they can or can't request from your site. This is part of the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP), a standard that websites use to communicate with web crawlers and bots.
Why is robots.txt important?
- Crawl Budget Optimization: Direct search engines to your most important pages by blocking unimportant ones
- Privacy Protection: Prevent crawlers from accessing sensitive directories or files
- Server Resource Management: Reduce server load by limiting crawler access to resource-intensive pages
- Duplicate Content Prevention: Block crawlers from indexing duplicate or test pages
- Development Site Protection: Keep staging or development sites out of search results
How to use this robots.txt generator
- 1. Add Crawling Rules: Create rules for different user agents (crawlers). Use "*" to apply rules to all crawlers, or specify individual crawlers like Googlebot.
- 2. Set Directives: For each rule, add Allow or Disallow directives with the paths you want to control. Paths are relative to your domain root.
- 3. Add Sitemaps (Optional): Include links to your XML sitemaps to help search engines discover all your pages.
- 4. Set Crawl Delay (Optional): Specify a delay between crawler requests to reduce server load (not all crawlers support this).
- 5. Generate and Download: Review the generated robots.txt file, then copy or download it to upload to your website's root directory.
Common robots.txt patterns
| Pattern | Description |
|---|---|
/ | Entire website |
/folder/ | Entire folder and its contents |
/*.pdf | All PDF files |
/*? | All URLs with query strings |
/page.html$ | Specific page ($ means end of URL) |
* | Wildcard (any sequence of characters) |
Best practices for robots.txt
- Location matters: The file must be named exactly "robots.txt" (lowercase) and placed in your website's root directory
- Test before deploying: Use Google Search Console's robots.txt tester to verify your rules work as intended
- Don't block CSS/JS: Search engines need these files to properly render and understand your pages
- Be specific with paths: Use precise paths to avoid accidentally blocking important content
- Remember it's public: Anyone can view your robots.txt file, so don't list sensitive directories you want to keep private
- Allow takes precedence: When both Allow and Disallow rules match, the Allow rule is typically followed
Important limitations
- Not enforceable: robots.txt is a publicly available file and following its directives is voluntary for crawlers
- Doesn't prevent indexing: Pages can still appear in search results if other sites link to them
- Not for security: Don't rely on robots.txt to protect sensitive information - use proper authentication instead
- Cache delay: Changes to robots.txt may take time to be recognized by search engines
Frequently asked questions about robots.txt
Do I need a robots.txt file for my website?
While not required, having a robots.txt file is recommended. If you don't have one, search engines will crawl all publicly accessible pages on your site. Even a simple robots.txt that allows all crawling helps prevent 404 errors in crawler logs.
Can I have multiple robots.txt files on subdomains?
Yes, each subdomain can have its own robots.txt file. For example, blog.example.com can have a different robots.txt than www.example.com. Each file only applies to its specific subdomain.
How quickly do search engines recognize robots.txt changes?
Search engines typically cache robots.txt files for up to 24 hours. Major changes might be recognized sooner if you request recrawling through tools like Google Search Console.
What's the difference between Disallow and Noindex?
Disallow in robots.txt prevents crawling but not necessarily indexing (pages can still appear in search results if linked from other sites). Noindex (used in meta tags or headers) prevents indexing but allows crawling. For complete removal from search results, use noindex tags instead of robots.txt.