Robots.txt Tester - Free SEO Tool

Simply enter the desired URL and test if it's blocked by the robots.txt.

What is robots.txt?

Robots.txt is a simple text file where you can specify which directories and subdirectories of a website can be read and which ones should be blocked for search engine bots. These bots, which crawl websites for indexing, look for this file first and read the instructions contained within it.

Why is the robots.txt file important?

Since robots.txt contains the indexing rules for search engine bots, it ensures that websites are crawled correctly and only desired content is indexed. It influences the following aspects:

Enable Ranking: Issues with the robots.txt file can result in certain pages not being indexed or ranked poorly.

Protect Private Directories: By using the appropriate command, you can prevent search engines from indexing private directories.

Save Resources: Crawling websites consumes hosting resources, which can be problematic for very large websites with a lot of content.

Communicate Sitemap Location: You can specify the location of the sitemap in the robots.txt so that search engine bots can quickly find the website structure.

Minimize Duplicate Content: By preventing the indexing of certain pages, you can avoid duplicate content in search engines.

What does our Robots.txt Tester do?

The Robots.txt Tester checks the domain of a website to see if it's blocked by the corresponding robots.txt file. This helps users determine if the file is correct and error-free. To do this, simply enter the complete URL of a website and start the test.

If something is not right, users can independently check the robots.txt for typos, syntax errors, logical errors, and optimization opportunities.

How to create the robots.txt?

Robots.txt is a simple text file consisting of several elements: first, you address the User-Agent, specifying its name (e.g., Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.). Then, you provide the command with the name of the directory that should or shouldn't be read.

There's also an option to include the Sitemap.xml file in the robots.txt file to ensure that the crawler accesses it.

Website Crawling: Commands at a Glance

User-Agent Command: The first lines are dedicated to the User-Agent, which addresses the respective search engine bot. You can enter a specific designation or use * to address all bots.

Disallow Command: The following lines define which directories and subdirectories the bot should not access. If nothing is specified here, there are no restrictions.

Allow Command: Alternatively, the Allow Command can specify which directories and subdirectories the bots should crawl first.

Sitemap Commands: Here, you inform the crawlers where to find the XML sitemap and thus the 'map' of the website.

Where to find the robots.txt?

Firstly, you can easily access the robots.txt file in the browser window by typing the URL followed by "/robots.txt" in the address bar. Secondly, the file can also be accessed through an ordinary text editor.

It should be located in the root directory of the domain, so that it can be found by search engine bots. It's also important to note that there can only be one robots.txt file per main domain.

Using Robots.txt Tester for Validation

Despite its small size of just a few bytes, the robots.txt file is a powerful tool to present your website to search engines like Google the way you want. When used correctly, it can not only improve crawling and boost website ranking but also prevent unwanted content from entering the index of search engines.