Robot.txt

[jeetendraets]

Hi,
can anyone tell me about the robots.txt?

[smithmary01]

Robots.txt file tells the search engine crawlers which url should be crawled and which are not.

[smartscraper]

A robots.txt file is a text file that website owners can use to tell web crawlers (also known as robots or spiders) which parts of their website they can and cannot access. This is a way for website owners to control how their website is indexed by search engines and to prevent certain content from being accessed by the public.

Robots.txt files are part of the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP), which is a set of guidelines that web crawlers are supposed to follow. However, it is important to note that REP is not a law, and not all web crawlers follow it. This means that it is possible for a web crawler to access parts of your website that you have blocked in your robots.txt file.

[josiepete]

Definition:
Robots.txt is a file on a website that guides search engine bots on which pages to crawl or avoid.

How to Use It:


Create a file named "robots.txt" in the website's root directory.
Specify rules for user-agents (bots) using "Disallow" or "Allow."
Use wildcards (*) for general instructions.
Add a sitemap reference for crawler guidance.


Example:


User-Agent: *
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /public/
Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Considerations:


Maintain correct syntax and formatting.
Avoid sensitive information in robots.txt.
Regularly update for site changes.


Robots.txt helps control search engine crawling for a more effective and SEO-friendly website.