🤖 Robots.txt Generator
Professional robots.txt generator that creates properly formatted robot exclusion files for websites. Configure user-agent specific rules, set crawl delays, add sitemap locations, and validate syntax for optimal SEO and web crawler management.
Generated Robots.txt File:
Professional Robot Exclusion File Generated
3 User-agents • 5 Rules • 2 Sitemaps • Valid Syntax
📄 Generated robots.txt Content
🔍 File Analysis
🚀 Deployment Instructions
1. Download the generated robots.txt file
2. Upload to your website's root directory (e.g., www.example.com/robots.txt)
3. Test accessibility at: https://yoursite.com/robots.txt
4. Submit to Google Search Console for validation
5. Monitor crawl behavior and adjust rules as needed
✅ Syntax Validation Results
✅ All user-agent declarations are valid
✅ Allow/Disallow rules follow proper syntax
✅ Crawl-delay values are numeric
✅ Sitemap URLs are properly formatted
✅ File structure conforms to RFC 9309 standard
How to Use This Robots.txt Generator
How to Use the Robots.txt Generator
Basic Operation
- Enter Robot Rules: Specify user-agent names and their Allow/Disallow directives in the main text area
- Add Sitemap URLs: Optionally include sitemap locations for search engines to discover
- Choose Validation Level: Select strict validation for production or permissive for testing
- Generate File: Click generate to create a properly formatted robots.txt file
Robot Rules Format
- User-agent Line: Start each section with "User-agent: [name]" (e.g., User-agent: *, User-agent: Googlebot)
- Disallow Rules: Block access with "Disallow: /path/" (e.g., Disallow: /admin/)
- Allow Rules: Permit access with "Allow: /path/" (e.g., Allow: /public/)
- Crawl Delays: Add delays with "Crawl-delay: [seconds]" (e.g., Crawl-delay: 1)
Common User-agents
- * - All web crawlers and bots (wildcard)
- Googlebot - Google's web crawler
- Bingbot - Microsoft Bing's web crawler
- YandexBot - Yandex search engine crawler
- facebookexternalhit - Facebook's link preview crawler
- Twitterbot - Twitter's link preview crawler
Advanced Features
- Multiple User-agents: Create specific rules for different crawlers
- Path Wildcards: Use patterns like /search/* to block entire directories
- Sitemap Integration: Include XML sitemap locations for better indexing
- Syntax Validation: Automatic checking for common robots.txt errors
How It Works
Robot Exclusion Protocol Implementation
Our generator creates standards-compliant robots.txt files following RFC 9309 specifications:
Core Processing Steps
- Parses user-agent declarations and associates them with directive rules
- Validates Allow/Disallow path syntax and proper URL encoding
- Processes Crawl-delay values as positive integers (seconds)
- Appends Sitemap directives with proper URL formatting
Syntax Validation Rules
- User-agent Format: Must be followed by a colon and space
- Path Validation: Allow/Disallow values must start with "/" or "*"
- Case Sensitivity: Directive names are case-insensitive, paths are case-sensitive
- Crawl-delay Limits: Numeric values between 0-86400 seconds (24 hours max)
File Structure Generation
- Groups directives by User-agent for optimal crawler interpretation
- Maintains proper line spacing and comment formatting
- Places Sitemap declarations at the end per RFC recommendations
- Ensures UTF-8 encoding and LF line endings for cross-platform compatibility
Best Practices Implementation
- Validates that Allow rules are more specific than Disallow rules
- Checks for common mistakes like missing trailing slashes
- Warns about conflicting directives for the same user-agent
- Provides deployment-ready output with proper MIME type headers
Security and Performance
The generator ensures your robots.txt follows security best practices:
- Prevents accidental exposure of sensitive directory paths
- Validates crawl-delay values to prevent server overload
- Checks sitemap URLs for proper HTTPS usage and accessibility
- Generates files optimized for fast parsing by web crawlers
When You Might Need This
- • SEO optimization by guiding search engine crawlers to important content areas
- • Block admin panels and private directories from web crawler indexing
- • Control server load with crawl-delay settings for resource-intensive sites
- • E-commerce sites preventing indexing of cart, checkout, and user account pages
- • News websites directing crawlers to article sitemaps while blocking search pages
- • Development environments blocking staging areas from accidental indexing
- • Membership sites restricting crawler access to premium content sections
- • Multi-language websites guiding bots to appropriate regional content
- • API documentation sites allowing public docs while blocking internal endpoints
- • Blog platforms optimizing crawler access to posts while blocking admin interfaces
Frequently Asked Questions
Where should I place my robots.txt file?
The robots.txt file must be placed in the root directory of your website (e.g., https://yoursite.com/robots.txt). Search engines will only recognize it at this exact location. Subdirectory placement like /blog/robots.txt will not work.
What's the difference between Allow and Disallow directives?
Disallow prevents crawlers from accessing specified paths, while Allow explicitly permits access. Allow is typically used to override broader Disallow rules. For example, you might disallow /admin/* but allow /admin/public/ for specific public admin content.
How do crawl-delay settings affect my website?
Crawl-delay specifies the minimum number of seconds a crawler should wait between requests. Setting it too high (>10 seconds) can slow indexing, while too low values on slow servers might cause performance issues. Most sites work well with 1-2 second delays.
Can I use wildcards in robots.txt paths?
Yes, you can use asterisk (*) as a wildcard to match any sequence of characters. For example, Disallow: /search/* blocks all URLs starting with /search/. However, avoid overusing wildcards as they can accidentally block important content.
Do all search engines respect robots.txt files?
Major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo generally respect robots.txt directives. However, robots.txt is not legally binding - it's a guideline. Malicious crawlers may ignore it entirely, so never rely on robots.txt for security; use proper access controls instead.