Free Online Robots.txt Generator
Create perfect, SEO-friendly robots.txt files for Google and other crawlers instantly
SEO Friendly
Syntax Validated
Pre-built Templates
Bot Control
Free Forever
Configuration
Global Settings
Preview
User-agent: *
Allow: /
How to Create a Robots.txt File
Our free robots.txt generator makes it easy to control how search engines crawl your website. Follow these simple steps:
- Choose a Template (Optional): Start quickly by selecting a pre-configured template like "WordPress" or "Block All" from the Templates dropdown.
- Add Rules: Use the "Add Path Rule" button to define specific instructions. Select the User-agent (e.g., Googlebot), set the Permission (Allow/Disallow), and specify the path.
- Configure Global Settings: Add your XML Sitemap URL to help bots discover your content and set a Crawl Delay if needed to reduce server load.
- Download: Preview the generated code instantly and click "Download robots.txt" to save the file. Upload it to your website's root directory.
Note: Robots.txt directives are a suggestion to reputable crawlers. They do not prevent malicious bots from scraping your site. For sensitive data, use server-side authentication or password protection.
What is Robots.txt?
A robots.txt file is a simple text file placed in the root directory of your website (e.g., yourdomain.com/robots.txt). It provides instructions to web robots (also known as crawlers or spiders) about which pages on your site should or should not be crawled.
It is a crucial part of Technical SEO because it helps preserve your "crawl budget" by preventing bots from wasting resources on unimportant pages like admin panels, temporary files, or internal search results.
Key Directives Explained
- User-agent: Specifies which bot the rule applies to (e.g.,
*for all,Googlebotfor Google). - Disallow: Tells bots not to access a specific path or folder.
- Allow: Explicitly allows access a sub-path within a disallowed directory (mostly used by Googlebot).
- Sitemap: Points crawlers to your XML sitemap location.
Frequently Asked Questions
You must upload the file to the root directory of your website so it is accessible at
https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt. If it is placed in a subdirectory (e.g., /blog/robots.txt), crawlers will likely ignore it.
Indirectly, yes. While it's not a direct ranking factor, a well-configured robots.txt ensures search engines crawl your most important pages instead of wasting time on low-value URLs. However, blocking pages via robots.txt does not guarantee they will be removed from search results; for that, use the
noindex meta tag.
Crawl-delay instructs bots to wait a certain number of seconds between requests. This is useful for preventing server overload. Note that Googlebot largely ignores this directive (preferring settings in Search Console), but other bots like Bingbot and Yandex respect it.