How Robots.txt Works in SEO

Generally speaking, a robots.txt file tells a search engine crawler (often known as a “bot”) which pages it may request from your website.

Web administrators use the file to control traffic when there is a chance that a server may get overloaded with requests. It is also useful for limiting irrelevant resources or preventing certain material from being indexed. The robots.txt file is a protocol that was created in 1994 to give instructions to web crawlers and is a component of The Robot Exclusion Protocol (REP). It is not owned by any specific company or individual.

So, how can you use a robots.txt file to help with your own website?

Functionality and format
The simplest robots.txt file consists of just two lines, with the words “user-agent” and “disallow property.” The designated web crawler is known as a user agent, and the resources that are blocked are specified by the prohibit property. Versions that are more intricate and have several user directives are also feasible. A blank line is used to separate commands that are included in a file in pairs. As a result, users have the option to permit some resources from one bot while blocking others.

Every rule in the file with multiple rules has an access limit and a user directive. The rules will be processed by the bot in a sequential fashion, with each rule being read from top to bottom. If comments are required for readability (or to serve as a reminder of the rationale behind the creation of the rules), they must come before the pound sign (#). The fact that the files are case sensitive is another crucial element that producers of the files must be aware of. Unless explicitly prohibited, user agents will automatically crawl the entire website.

To generate your own robots.txt, almost any basic text editor that can produce ASCII or UTF-8 text files will do. One tool you can use to create the files is Microsoft Notepad. Word processors like as Microsoft Word, however, are not the best option because they save files in proprietary formats and add extra formatting that breaks compatibility.

Whatever method you choose, you can verify that the item is in the right format and has the correct syntax by running it through a robots txt validator. Apart from adhering to the ASCII or UTF-8 format specifications, the file needs to have the name “robots.txt” and be located in the website’s root directory. Files in subdirectories or outside of the root will not be read by bots. These can be found in the subdomain’s main directory if the webmaster intends to apply the rules to a subdomain.

Importance in search engine optimization
Larger websites will naturally have more files since websites are typically made up of numerous files. Bots will visit every page and file on your site if they are allowed to. Despite the fact that this sounds like a good quality, it could hurt your rating. A crawl budget is a cap that search engines, such as Google, impose on their automated crawlers. Low-value URLs nevertheless add to the crawl demand and crawl rate cap. In essence, they deplete resources without adding anything worthwhile. Webmasters can instruct bots to explicitly target useful material and force them to ignore pages that lower ranking by using a robots.txt file.

The fact that duplicate material annoys search engines is another reason these files are crucial to use in the context of SEO. In certain cases, it is not possible to prevent this and the same information must be repeated on separate pages. Webmasters can prevent penalties for copied content by adding the page to the robots.txt file in these situations. learn more