Robots.txt File Generator
Create robots.txt files with a visual builder. Control how search engines crawl and index your website.
User-agent: *
How to Use the Robots.txt Generator
- Add user-agent rules to target specific crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot, or all with *).
- Specify directories and files to allow or disallow for each crawler.
- Add your sitemap URL for search engine discovery.
- Set a crawl-delay if needed to prevent server overload.
- Copy the generated robots.txt content and upload it to your site root.
What is Robots.txt and How Does It Work?
The robots.txt file is a plain text file placed in the root directory of a website that tells web crawlers which pages or sections they are allowed to access. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol, first proposed in 1994 and formalized as an internet standard. Search engines like Google and Bing read this file before crawling your site to understand which paths they should and should not index. The file uses a simple syntax with User-agent directives that specify which crawler the rules apply to, followed by Allow and Disallow rules for specific paths. A wildcard User-agent (*) applies to all crawlers. You can also include a Sitemap directive pointing to your XML sitemap, which helps search engines discover all your pages efficiently. Important: robots.txt is a directive, not an access control mechanism. It relies on crawlers voluntarily obeying the rules, and malicious bots will ignore it entirely. Never use robots.txt to hide sensitive content, as the file itself is publicly accessible and disallowed paths can reveal interesting directories to attackers. During security reconnaissance, robots.txt is one of the first files checked because it often reveals admin panels, staging environments, API endpoints, and other paths the site owner considers sensitive. Use proper authentication and access controls instead.
Frequently Asked Questions
Not entirely. Robots.txt prevents crawling, but if other sites link to a disallowed page, search engines may still index the URL (showing it without a snippet). To fully prevent indexing, use a noindex meta tag or X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. Robots.txt and noindex serve different purposes and should be used together when needed.
No. Robots.txt is publicly readable by anyone and is not enforced. Malicious bots ignore it entirely. In fact, attackers check robots.txt during reconnaissance to find directories you want to hide. Never rely on robots.txt to protect sensitive areas. Use authentication, authorization, and proper access controls instead.
Crawl-delay tells compliant crawlers to wait a specified number of seconds between requests. It can help reduce server load from aggressive crawlers. Google does not support crawl-delay (use Google Search Console instead), but Bing and others do. Set it only if your server has performance issues from crawling; otherwise, let search engines crawl at their default rate.