Robots.txt Generator
Create professional robots.txt files instantly. Control search engine crawlers with common presets, custom rules, and live preview. Download or copy for immediate use.
Free Robots.txt Generator: Create SEO Rules for Search Engines Instantly
Generate professional robots.txt files with visual builder. Control Googlebot, Bingbot, and AI crawlers (GPTBot, CCBot, Claude-Web). Block unwanted bots, optimize crawl budget, and improve SEO with RFC 9309 compliant rules. Download or copy for immediate use.
What Is Robots.txt (And Why Every Website Needs One)?
Robots.txt is a plain text file placed in your website's root directory that tells search engine crawlers (like Googlebot, Bingbot) which pages they can and cannot access. Introduced in 1994 and standardized in RFC 9309 (2022), robots.txt is the first file crawlers check when visiting your site—making it critical for controlling search engine behavior.
A properly configured robots.txt file saves crawl budget by directing search engines to your important pages, blocks sensitive areas (admin panels, private directories), prevents duplicate content issues, and protects against AI training bots scraping your content. According to Google's Robots.txt Documentation, 95% of sites benefit from custom robots.txt rules versus using none at all.
Why Robots.txt Is Critical for SEO and Security:
Optimizes Search Engine Crawling
- • Save crawl budget: Direct bots to important pages only
- • Improve indexing speed: Prioritize new content over archives
- • Prevent duplicate content: Block parameter-based URLs
- • Control crawler access: Manage which bots index your site
Protects Privacy and Resources
- • Block AI scrapers: Stop GPTBot, CCBot from training on your content
- • Secure admin areas: Prevent /admin, /wp-admin directory access
- • Reduce server load: Limit aggressive crawler bandwidth usage
- • Comply with privacy laws: Control data access for GDPR/CCPA
Real Robots.txt Examples
User-agent: * Allow: / Permits all search engines to index entire siteUser-agent: * Disallow: / Blocks all bots (use for staging sites only)User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: * Allow: / Blocks ChatGPT training, allows Google indexingUser-agent: * Disallow: /wp-admin/ Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php Blocks WordPress admin except AJAX endpointHow to Create Robots.txt in 3 Simple Steps
đź’ˇ Pro Tip: Block AI Training Bots in 2025-2026
Protect your content from AI training by blocking GPTBot (ChatGPT), CCBot (Common Crawl), Google-Extended (Bard), anthropic-ai (Claude), and Bytespider (TikTok). Use our "Block AI Crawlers" preset to instantly add all major AI bots while preserving SEO for Google, Bing, and Yahoo. This prevents your proprietary content from training competing AI models.
10 Essential Robots.txt Directives and Rules
The asterisk (*) wildcard targets all web crawlers and bots. Rules under "User-agent: *" apply to every bot unless overridden by specific user-agent rules. This is the most common directive—use it to set default crawling behavior for your entire site. Specific user-agents take precedence over wildcard rules.
Specify individual crawler names to apply rules only to that bot. Common values: Googlebot (Google Search), Bingbot (Bing), Slurp (Yahoo), DuckDuckBot (DuckDuckGo), Baiduspider (Baidu). Check our presets for 20+ common crawler names. Use specific user-agents to give preferential crawling access to major search engines while blocking scrapers or AI bots.
Prevents crawlers from accessing specified paths. "Disallow: /admin" blocks everything under /admin directory. Common uses: /admin, /private, /cgi-bin, /tmp, /wp-admin. Note: This doesn't password-protect pages—use actual authentication for security. Disallow only prevents indexing, not access. Test with our redirect checker to verify blocking behavior.
Overrides Disallow rules to permit specific subdirectories. Example: "Disallow: /" blocks everything, but "Allow: /public" makes /public accessible. Allow is useful for WordPress (block /wp-admin/ but allow /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php for functionality). Allow takes precedence when paths overlap, following longest match rule per RFC 9309.
Use wildcards for advanced matching. Asterisk (*) matches any character sequence; dollar sign ($) matches end of URL. "*.pdf$" blocks all PDF files. "*?*" blocks URLs with query parameters. "/search*" blocks everything starting with /search. These patterns help control dynamic content and prevent parameter-based duplicate content issues.
Directs crawlers to your XML sitemap for faster discovery and indexing. Include multiple sitemap URLs for large sites (sitemaps for different sections, languages, or media types). Sitemaps must use absolute URLs starting with http:/ or https:/. Generate XML sitemaps with our developer tools, then add them here to improve SEO crawl efficiency by 40%+.
Sets minimum seconds between successive requests from a bot. "Crawl-delay: 10" means wait 10 seconds between page fetches. Use for small servers or to throttle aggressive crawlers. Important: Googlebot ignores crawl-delay (use Google Search Console instead). Yandex and Bing respect this directive. Set 5-10 seconds for shared hosting, 1-2 seconds for dedicated servers.
Block AI web scrapers from training on your content. GPTBot (OpenAI ChatGPT), CCBot (Common Crawl used by multiple AIs), Google-Extended (Google Bard/Gemini), anthropic-ai (Claude), Claude-Web, Bytespider (TikTok), Omgilibot. As of 2025-2026, blocking AI crawlers protects intellectual property while maintaining SEO visibility. Our "Block AI" preset includes all major AI training bots automatically.
Lines starting with # are comments for documentation—crawlers ignore them. Use comments to explain rules, note dates, or add contact info. Example: "# Last updated: 2026-01-15" or "# Contact: webmaster@example.com". Our generator includes automatic comment headers with generation timestamps for maintenance tracking.
Deprecated: Host directive specified preferred domain (www vs non-www) but only Yandex supported it. Use HTTP 301 redirects or canonical tags instead for domain preference. Our generator includes this option but warns it's not widely supported. Modern SEO uses proper redirects and canonical URLs for domain consolidation.
7 Real-World Robots.txt Optimization Scenarios
1. E-commerce Site Crawl Budget Optimization
Save crawl budget by blocking low-value pages: /cart, /checkout, /account, filter/sort parameters (*?sort=, *?filter=). Allow product pages and categories while preventing duplicate content from pagination (?page=2, ?page=3). This focuses Googlebot on indexable product pages, improving product discovery speed by 60%+.
2. WordPress Security and SEO Configuration
Block WordPress admin areas (/wp-admin/, /wp-includes/) except AJAX endpoint (/wp-admin/admin-ajax.php required for frontend functionality). Prevent indexing of /wp-content/plugins/, /wp-content/themes/, tracking parameters (?utm_source=). Combine with our SSL checker for comprehensive WordPress security.
3. Block AI Training While Preserving Search Visibility
Protect content from GPT-4, Claude, Gemini training datasets while maintaining Google/Bing indexing. Block GPTBot, CCBot, Google-Extended, anthropic-ai, Bytespider, Omgilibot. Allow Googlebot, Bingbot, DuckDuckBot for SEO. This 2025-2026 strategy prevents AI companies from monetizing your content while preserving organic search traffic—critical for publishers, SaaS documentation, and educational sites.
4. Staging and Development Environment Protection
Prevent accidental indexing of staging sites (staging.example.com, dev.example.com) with "User-agent: * / Disallow: /". This blocks all crawlers from indexing test content, preventing duplicate content penalties and customer confusion from seeing unfinished features in search results. Essential for development workflows—combine with password protection for security.
5. Multi-Language and International SEO Setup
Configure region-specific crawling for international sites. Add multiple sitemap URLs for each language (sitemap-en.xml, sitemap-es.xml, sitemap-fr.xml). Block duplicate language selector pages (?lang=), country switchers, and auto-redirect mechanisms that confuse crawlers. Use our domain age checker to verify international domain configurations.
6. SaaS Application and API Documentation
Block private app sections (/app/, /dashboard/, /api/v1/) while allowing public documentation (/docs/, /api-reference/). Prevent indexing of user-generated content that creates infinite crawl loops. Specify crawl-delay for API docs to prevent crawler-induced rate limiting. This optimizes for developer-focused SEO (documentation ranking) while protecting application resources.
7. Content Publishing and Media Sites
Optimize news sites and blogs by blocking archive pages (/archive/), date-based URLs that duplicate content, AMP alternative versions (if using canonical), print versions (?print=true), and comment pagination (?comment-page=2). Allow article pages and category indexes. Include news sitemap URLs for Google News. Block aggressive scrapers copying articles—verify with HTTP headers tool.
8 Robots.txt Mistakes That Hurt Your SEO Rankings
1. Blocking CSS/JavaScript Files (Critical for Rendering)
"Disallow: /css/" or "Disallow: *.js$" prevents Googlebot from rendering your pages correctly, causing indexing failures. Google penalizes sites it can't render—blocked resources lead to "mobile-friendly" test failures and ranking drops. NEVER block /css/, /js/, /images/ directories. Check rendering with Google's Mobile-Friendly Test.
2. Accidentally Blocking Entire Site (Disallow: / Without User-Agent)
Forgetting to specify user-agent before "Disallow: /" blocks ALL bots from your ENTIRE site—immediate deindexing disaster. Always pair "Disallow: /" with specific user-agents (like GPTBot). Use "User-agent: * / Disallow: /" only for staging sites. One typo can remove your site from Google in 48 hours. Test with our generator's live preview before deploying.
3. Using Robots.txt for Security (It's Publicly Accessible)
Robots.txt is public at https://yoursite.com/robots.txt—everyone can read it. Blocking /admin reveals you HAVE an admin panel, inviting attacks. Use actual authentication (passwords, IP whitelisting, 2FA) for security. Robots.txt only controls search indexing, not access. Check security with our SSL certificate checker and proper authentication methods.
4. Not Including Sitemap URLs (Missed Indexing Opportunities)
Robots.txt without "Sitemap:" directive forces crawlers to discover pages manually—slowing indexing by 3-7 days for new content. Always include sitemap URLs (XML sitemaps, news sitemaps, video sitemaps) to accelerate crawling. Sites with sitemaps get indexed 50% faster than those relying on link discovery alone per Google Sitemap Guidelines.
5. Incorrect File Placement (Must Be in Root Directory)
Robots.txt MUST be at https://example.com/robots.txt (root), NOT /blog/robots.txt or /public/robots.txt. Crawlers only check root location. Subdirectory placement = ignored file = no rules applied. Each subdomain needs its own robots.txt (blog.example.com/robots.txt separate from example.com/robots.txt). Verify with our HTTP status checker.
6. Syntax Errors (Case Sensitivity and Spacing Matter)
"user-agent:" (lowercase) works but "User-Agent:" (capitalized) is standard. Missing colons, extra spaces, or wrong line breaks break parsing. Each directive needs its own line. Blank lines separate user-agent blocks. Use our generator's validation to catch syntax errors before deployment—one typo can invalidate your entire robots.txt per RFC 9309 specifications.
7. Forgetting to Update After Site Restructures
Blocking /old-blog/ after migrating to /blog/ is fine, but forgetting to update path references causes issues. Old robots.txt rules linger and block new content. Review and update robots.txt quarterly or after major site changes (redesigns, URL migrations, new sections). Stale rules cause 15-20% of SEO traffic loss post-migration according to migration audits.
8. Blocking Search Parameters That Affect Content
Blocking all parameters ("Disallow: *?") removes filtering/sorting that creates unique content (product category filters, search results pages). Only block parameters that truly duplicate content. Use Google Search Console's URL Parameters tool for fine-grained control. Our generator helps distinguish between duplicate parameters (?sessionid=) and content parameters (?category=).
Frequently Asked Questions About Robots.txt
What is robots.txt and how does it work?
Robots.txt is a text file at your site's root (https://yoursite.com/robots.txt) that tells search engine crawlers which pages they can access. When a bot visits your site, it checks robots.txt FIRST before crawling any pages. Directives like "Disallow: /admin" prevent crawling of specified paths. It follows RFC 9309 standard (2022). Note: robots.txt prevents indexing but doesn't password-protect pages—use authentication for security.
How do I block AI crawlers like ChatGPT and Claude in 2025-2026?
Add specific user-agent blocks for AI training bots: GPTBot (OpenAI/ChatGPT), CCBot (Common Crawl/multiple AIs), Google-Extended (Google Gemini), anthropic-ai and Claude-Web (Anthropic Claude), Bytespider (TikTok), Omgilibot. Use our "Block AI Crawlers" preset which includes all major AI bots as of 2026. This protects your content from training datasets while preserving Google/Bing SEO. Critical for protecting intellectual property and copyrighted content.
Does robots.txt affect SEO rankings directly?
Robots.txt doesn't directly impact rankings BUT improves SEO indirectly by: (1) saving crawl budget for important pages, (2) preventing duplicate content indexing, (3) focusing crawler attention on high-value pages. Blocking important content HARMS rankings (pages can't rank if not indexed). Use robots.txt strategically—block low-value pages (admin, filters, duplicates) while ensuring product pages, blog posts, and landing pages remain crawlable. Test changes with Google Search Console.
What's the difference between robots.txt and meta robots tags?
Robots.txt blocks crawlers from accessing URLs (prevents crawling). Meta robots tag (<meta name="robots" content="noindex">) allows crawling but prevents indexing. Use robots.txt for directories/sections (block /admin/), use meta robots for individual pages (noindex specific duplicates). Combining both is redundant—robots.txt stops crawlers before they see meta tags. For fine control per page, use meta robots. For blocking entire sections, use robots.txt.
How often should I update my robots.txt file?
Review robots.txt quarterly (every 3 months) or after major site changes: redesigns, URL migrations, new sections, platform changes (switching CMS). Set calendar reminders for checks. Audit robots.txt when launching new features—new app sections may need blocking, new content areas need allowing. Stale robots.txt blocks new content or allows outdated paths. Verify with Google's Robots.txt Tester after updates.
Can I use robots.txt to remove pages from Google Search?
No—common misconception! Blocking a page in robots.txt can keep it indexed if other sites link to it. Google shows blocked URLs with "Description not available" snippets. To remove indexed pages: (1) allow crawling, (2) add <meta name="robots" content="noindex"> tag, (3) use Google Search Console URL Removal Tool for urgent removals. After deindexing, you can then block in robots.txt. Never block pages you want deindexed—crawlers need access to read noindex tags.
What happens if I don't have a robots.txt file?
Missing robots.txt = implicit "allow all"—crawlers index your entire site including admin panels, private directories, duplicate pages. While not catastrophic for simple sites, it wastes crawl budget and risks indexing sensitive paths. Create basic robots.txt even for small sites: block admin areas, include sitemap URLs. Takes 5 minutes, prevents future issues. Use our "SEO Friendly" preset for standard configuration that works for 90% of websites—blocks common admin paths while allowing content indexing.
Do all search engines respect robots.txt rules?
Reputable search engines (Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Baidu, Yandex) honor robots.txt per industry standards. Malicious scrapers, spammers, and hackers ignore robots.txt—it's voluntary compliance, not security. Use robots.txt for SEO crawlers, use authentication for security. Crawl-delay is respected by Bing/Yandex but ignored by Google (use Search Console instead). Some AI scrapers (GPTBot, CCBot) respect blocking as of 2025, but others may ignore—combine with legal terms of service.
Advanced Robots.txt Optimization Strategies for 2026
Dynamic Robots.txt Generation
Generate robots.txt dynamically via server-side code instead of static files. Serve different rules based on environment (staging vs production), geography (country-specific crawlers), or real-time conditions (block bots during high traffic). Implement via middleware in Express, Django, Laravel. Enables A/B testing crawler rules for SEO optimization.
Crawl Budget Analysis and Tuning
Monitor Google Search Console's Crawl Stats to see which pages consume crawl budget. Block low-value pages (filters, sorts, faceted navigation) that waste crawler resources. Prioritize new content and high-converting pages. Sites with optimized robots.txt get 40%+ more important pages crawled daily versus unoptimized configurations.
Conditional AI Bot Blocking
Block AI training bots (GPTBot, CCBot) from copyrighted/premium content while allowing them to crawl free content for brand awareness. Separate robots.txt for /premium* and /blog*. Balance between protecting IP and gaining visibility in AI-powered answer engines (ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude).
Multi-Subdomain Coordination
Each subdomain needs separate robots.txt (blog.example.com/robots.txt, shop.example.com/robots.txt). Coordinate rules across subdomains to prevent crawler confusion. Use stricter blocking on internal tools (admin.example.com) and permissive rules on public content (www.example.com). Maintain consistency for brand subdomains.
Robots.txt for International SEO
Configure region-specific crawling: allow Googlebot globally, prioritize Yandex for .ru domains, Baidu for .cn domains. Include multiple language-specific sitemaps (sitemap-en.xml, sitemap-zh.xml). Block automated translation parameters (?translate=) that create duplicate content. Optimize crawl budget per market priority.
Monitoring and Alert Automation
Set up automated monitoring for robots.txt changes (unauthorized edits break SEO). Use version control for robots.txt, create alerts when file is modified. Monitor Search Console for crawl error spikes indicating robots.txt issues. Automated weekly checks prevent accidental "Disallow: /" deployments that deindex your entire site.
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