Free Robots.txt Generator

Purpose of Directives in a Robots.txt File

If you are creating the file manually, then you need to be aware of the guidelines used in the file. You can even modify the file later after learning how they work.

• Crawl-delay: This directive is used to prevent crawlers from overloading the host, too many requests can overload the server which will result in bad user experience. Crawl-delay is treated differently by different bots from search engines, Bing, Google, Yandex treat this directive in different ways.
• Allow: Allowing directive is used to enable indexation of the following URL. You can add as many URLs as you want especially if it's a shopping site then your list might get large. Still, only use the robots file if your site has pages that you don't want to get indexed.
• Disallow: The primary purpose of a Robots file is to refuse crawlers from visiting the mentioned links, directories, etc. These directories, however, are accessed by other bots who need to check for malware because they don't cooperate with the standard.

Difference Between a Sitemap and a Robots.txt File

A sitemap is vital for all the websites as it contains useful information for search engines. A sitemap tells bots how often you update your website what kind of content your site provides. Its primary motive is to notify the search engines of all the pages your site has that needs to be crawled whereas robotics txt file is for crawlers. It tells crawlers which page to crawl and which not to. A sitemap is necessary in order to get your site indexed whereas robot's txt is not (if you don't have pages that don't need to be indexed).

How to Use Our Robots.txt Generator

Our robots.txt generator makes it easy to create a robots.txt file for your website. Follow these simple steps:

• Set Default Access: Choose whether all robots are allowed or refused by default.
• Set Crawl Delay: Optionally set a delay between crawler requests to prevent server overload.
• Add Sitemap: Enter your sitemap URL if you have one. This helps search engines find all your pages.
• Configure Search Engines: Set specific rules for individual search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo, etc.
• Restrict Directories: Add directories you want to block from crawlers (e.g., /admin/, /private/, /temp/).
• Generate & Download: Click "Generate Robots.txt" to create your file, then copy or download it.

Best Practices for Robots.txt

• Always place your robots.txt file in the root directory of your website (e.g., https://example.com/robots.txt)
• Use trailing slashes for directory paths (e.g., /admin/ not /admin)
• Don't block important pages or directories that should be indexed
• Include your sitemap URL to help search engines discover all your pages
• Test your robots.txt file using Google Search Console's robots.txt Tester
• Keep your robots.txt file updated as your website structure changes