Question 1

What is a robots.txt file?

Accepted Answer

A robots.txt file tells search engines which pages on your site they can and cannot crawl. It sits at the root of your domain (e.g. example.com/robots.txt) and contains rules that control bot access to your content.

Question 2

Does every website need a robots.txt file?

Accepted Answer

Not strictly required, but highly recommended. Without one, search engines crawl everything by default. A robots.txt file helps you control what gets indexed, prevent duplicate content issues, and keep private pages out of search results.

Question 3

Can a bad robots.txt hurt my SEO?

Accepted Answer

Yes. If you accidentally block important pages with Disallow rules, Google cannot crawl or index them. This is one of the most common technical SEO mistakes and can make entire sections of your site invisible to search engines.

Question 4

What does 'Disallow: /' mean?

Accepted Answer

This rule tells all search engines to not crawl any page on your site. It effectively removes your entire site from search results. Only use this on staging or development sites, never on production.

Question 5

How often should I check my robots.txt?

Accepted Answer

Check it after every major site update, redesign, or migration. CMS updates sometimes overwrite or modify your robots.txt file without warning. A monthly check is a good habit for active websites.

Robots.txt Checker

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