Generate a robots.txt file to control how search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo crawl your website. Block unwanted bots, protect sensitive directories, and optimize your crawl budget.
A robots.txt file is a text file that instructs search engine crawlers which pages or sections of your website they can and cannot access. It's the first file search engines look for when they visit your site, and it plays a crucial role in managing your crawl budget — the number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given timeframe.
Properly configuring your robots.txt file can significantly improve your SEO performance. By blocking crawlers from accessing low-value pages (like admin areas, duplicate content, staging environments, or internal search results), you help search engines focus their crawl budget on your most important pages — product listings, blog posts, landing pages, and cornerstone content.
Our free robots.txt generator makes it easy to create a properly formatted robots.txt file. You can choose from preset configurations: "Default" allows all pages to be crawled (ideal for most websites), "SEO Optimized" blocks common WordPress admin paths and duplicate content areas, "Strict" blocks all bots (useful for development sites), or "Custom" for complete control over your crawl directives.
For advanced SEO, you can also use your robots.txt file to specify the location of your XML sitemap using the Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml directive. This helps search engines discover your sitemap even if they haven't found it through other means. You can also block specific user agents (like AhrefsBot, SemrushBot, or GPTBot) if they consume too much of your server resources.
After generating your robots.txt file, upload it to your website's root directory (e.g., https://yourwebsite.com/robots.txt). You can test your file using Google Search Console's robots.txt tester to ensure it's working correctly. Remember: robots.txt prevents crawling but doesn't guarantee pages won't be indexed if linked from other sites. For complete index control, use meta robots tags alongside your robots.txt file.
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A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages or sections of your website to crawl and index. It's a standard used by Google, Bing, and all major search engines to manage crawl behavior.
Upload the robots.txt file to your website's root directory (e.g., https://yourwebsite.com/robots.txt). This is the first place search engines look for crawl instructions when they visit your site.
Yes, if you disallow a page using Disallow: /path/, Google and other search engines will not crawl that page. However, it may still be indexed if linked from other sites. Use with caution.
Robots.txt controls crawling (whether search engines can access a page). Meta robots tags control indexing (whether a page appears in search results). Both are important for complete SEO control.
Yes, our robots.txt generator is 100% free with unlimited usage. No sign-up, no credit card, no hidden fees. Generate as many files as you need for different websites.