🤖 Robots.txt Generator

Create optimized robots.txt files to control search engine crawling and improve your website's SEO performance

Version 2.1.0 - Updated September 2025
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Specify the location of your sitemap.xml file. This helps search engines discover all your pages more efficiently.
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These directives apply to all search engine bots unless overridden by specific user-agent rules.
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Create specific rules for different search engine bots. The * wildcard applies to all bots.
Your robots.txt file will appear here

Embed This Tool

Want to embed this robots.txt generator on your website? Use this code:

<iframe src="https://yoursite.com/robots-txt-generator" width="100%" height="600" frameborder="0"></iframe>

🎯 Robots.txt Examples

✅ Standard Website

Basic robots.txt for a typical website:

User-agent: * Allow: / Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /tmp/ Disallow: /private/ Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Characteristics: Allows all bots, blocks sensitive areas, includes sitemap

✅ E-commerce Site

Robots.txt optimized for e-commerce with crawl control:

User-agent: * Crawl-delay: 2 Allow: /products/ Allow: /categories/ Disallow: /checkout/ Disallow: /cart/ Disallow: /user/ Disallow: /search? Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Features: Crawl delay, allows product pages, blocks user areas

✅ Blog/News Site

Optimized for content-heavy websites:

User-agent: * Allow: /posts/ Allow: /articles/ Allow: /categories/ Disallow: /wp-admin/ Disallow: /wp-includes/ Disallow: /search? Disallow: /comments/ # Googlebot specific rules User-agent: Googlebot Allow: /images/ Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Features: Specific Googlebot rules, blocks search and admin areas

✅ Development Site

For staging/development environments:

User-agent: * Disallow: / # Development environment - block all crawlers

Use Case: Prevents search engines from indexing development sites

📚 Robots.txt Tutorials

🔍

Understanding Robots.txt: A Complete Guide

Learn the fundamentals of robots.txt files, how they work, and why they're essential for SEO and website management.

Read Tutorial →
🚫

Common Robots.txt Mistakes to Avoid

Discover the most common robots.txt errors that can hurt your SEO and how to fix them.

Read Tutorial →

Advanced Robots.txt Techniques

Learn advanced patterns, wildcards, and specific bot targeting for optimal crawl control.

Read Tutorial →
🤖

Search Engine Bot Behavior Guide

Understand how different search engine bots interpret and follow robots.txt directives.

Read Tutorial →
📊

Monitoring and Testing Your Robots.txt

Tools and techniques for testing your robots.txt file and monitoring crawl behavior.

Read Tutorial →
🔒

Robots.txt and Security Considerations

How to use robots.txt for security without revealing sensitive information to malicious bots.

Read Tutorial →

⚖️ Robots.txt Generator Comparison

Compare our free robots.txt generator with other popular tools and services:

Feature Our Tool Tool A Tool B Tool C
Free to Use ❌ (Premium)
Multiple User-Agent Rules
Predefined Templates
Crawl Delay Settings
Syntax Validation
Export Options
Mobile Friendly
Educational Content
Real-time Preview

Why Choose Our Robots.txt Generator?

🔧 Comprehensive Rule Options

Support for multiple user-agent rules, crawl delays, and complex path patterns with wildcards.

📊 SEO Optimization

Built-in best practices and recommendations to optimize your robots.txt for search engines.

🚀 Easy to Use

Intuitive interface with predefined templates and real-time preview of your robots.txt file.

🎓 Educational Focus

Not just a tool - includes comprehensive guides, examples, and tutorials to help you understand robots.txt.

📝 Version History & Changelog

Version 2.1.0 - Latest

September 15, 2025
  • 🎉 Added multiple user-agent rule support
  • 📊 Enhanced robots.txt analysis and validation
  • 📱 Improved mobile responsiveness and touch interactions
  • 🔧 Added embed code functionality for easy integration
  • 📚 Expanded educational content and examples
  • 🎨 Updated UI with better accessibility and contrast

Version 2.0.0

August 20, 2025
  • 🔄 Complete UI redesign with modern styling
  • 📚 Added comprehensive tutorial section
  • 📝 Introduced tabbed navigation for better organization
  • ⚖️ Added tool comparison feature
  • 💾 Implemented download functionality for robots.txt files
  • 📋 Enhanced copy functionality with better feedback

Version 1.2.0

July 10, 2025
  • ✅ Added crawl delay and sitemap URL support
  • 🛡️ Improved syntax validation and error checking
  • 📖 Added real-world examples and use cases
  • 🐛 Fixed path pattern validation issues
  • ♿ Enhanced accessibility with ARIA labels

Version 1.1.0

June 5, 2025
  • 🎨 Improved visual design with gradient backgrounds
  • 📱 Added responsive design for mobile devices
  • ⚠️ Added warnings for common robots.txt mistakes
  • 📋 Implemented one-click copy functionality
  • 🔧 Fixed layout issues on smaller screens

Version 1.0.0

May 15, 2025
  • 🎉 Initial release of Robots.txt Generator
  • 🔍 Support for basic robots.txt generation
  • ⚡ Real-time preview and validation
  • 📚 Comprehensive documentation and examples
  • ✨ Clean, modern user interface

🔮 Upcoming Features

📋 Planned for Next Release:

  • Website crawler integration for automatic path discovery
  • Robots.txt testing and validation against search engine guidelines
  • Integration with popular CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify, etc.)
  • Advanced pattern matching with regular expressions
  • Dark/Light theme toggle
  • API access for developers
  • Browser extension for quick generation

What is a Robots.txt File?

A robots.txt file is a text file that tells search engine bots which pages or sections of your website should not be crawled or indexed. It's part of the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP), a standard used by websites to communicate with web crawlers and other web robots.

🟢 Benefits of Using Robots.txt

✅ Advantages of Proper Robots.txt Configuration:

  • Crawl Control: Direct search engine bots to important content and away from irrelevant pages
  • Server Load Management: Reduce server load by preventing bots from crawling non-essential pages
  • SEO Optimization: Ensure search engines focus on your most valuable content
  • Duplicate Content Prevention: Block search engines from indexing duplicate or similar pages
  • Security: Hide sensitive areas of your website from public search results

🔴 Common Robots.txt Mistakes

❌ Robots.txt Errors to Avoid:

  • Blocking important content accidentally with overly restrictive rules
  • Using incorrect syntax or formatting that search engines can't parse
  • Placing the robots.txt file in the wrong location (must be in root directory)
  • Assuming robots.txt provides security (it doesn't - it's a suggestion)
  • Forgetting to include a sitemap reference
  • Using case-sensitive paths when they should be case-insensitive

Robots.txt Directives

🤖 User-agent

Specifies which search engine bot the rules apply to. Use * for all bots or specific names like Googlebot.

🚫 Disallow

Tells bots not to crawl specific paths or sections of your website. Can use wildcards (*) for pattern matching.

✅ Allow

Explicitly allows crawling of paths that might be blocked by broader Disallow rules. Overrides Disallow for specific paths.

⏱️ Crawl-delay

Specifies the number of seconds bots should wait between requests to avoid overloading your server.

How Robots.txt Files Work

When a search engine bot visits your website, it first checks for a robots.txt file in the root directory. The bot then follows the instructions in this file before crawling any other pages. The process works as follows:

  1. Request: Bot sends a request to yourdomain.com/robots.txt
  2. Parse: Bot reads and interprets the directives in the file
  3. Apply: Bot applies the rules to its crawling behavior
  4. Crawl: Bot proceeds to crawl allowed pages according to the rules
  5. Index: Bot indexes the crawled content for search results

Best Practices for Robots.txt

🔍 Recommended SEO Tools

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