AI Robots.txt Generator

A robots.txt file is a text file placed in your website's root directory that gives instructions to web crawlers and bots. It tells search engines which pages or directories they can or cannot crawl. The file follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (REP) and is one of the first things search engine bots look for when visiting your site. It helps control crawl behavior, protect private content, and optimize your crawl budget.

Robots.txt only works for well-behaved bots that follow the protocol. Major search engines like Google, Bing, and Yahoo respect robots.txt rules, but malicious bots and scrapers may ignore them entirely. For sensitive content that must be protected, use server-side authentication, IP blocking, or password protection rather than relying solely on robots.txt. Think of robots.txt as a polite request, not a security measure.

Place the robots.txt file in the root directory of your website so it's accessible at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt. For example, if your website is example.com, the file should be at the top level, not in a subdirectory. Search engine bots automatically check this location first. If the file is missing or in the wrong place, bots will assume they can crawl everything on your site.

Yes, if configured incorrectly. Blocking important pages with Disallow rules prevents them from being indexed, which means they won't appear in search results. Blocking CSS or JavaScript files can prevent Google from properly rendering your pages, hurting rankings. Always double-check your rules and use Google Search Console to verify that important pages are still crawlable and indexed.

Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine will crawl on your site within a given timeframe. For small websites, this isn't usually a concern. But for large sites with thousands of pages, poor crawl budget management means important pages may not get crawled frequently enough. By blocking low-value pages (search results, parameter URLs, admin areas) with robots.txt, you help search engines focus their crawl budget on your most valuable content.

Select your website type (Blog, E-commerce, Portfolio, etc.) and our AI automatically configures the optimal robots.txt rules for that type. For example, an E-commerce site will get rules to block cart and checkout pages while allowing product pages. A Blog will ensure posts and categories are crawlable while blocking author admin areas. Each recommendation comes with an explanation of why it matters for your site type.

The AI SEO Health Score (0-100) evaluates your generated robots.txt against best practices. It checks for critical issues like blocked CSS/JS, missing sitemap references, conflicting rules, and over-blocking. A score of 80+ means your robots.txt is well-optimized. The checker also provides specific warnings and recommendations to improve your score and ensure search engines can properly crawl your important pages.

The template library provides pre-configured robots.txt files optimized for specific platforms like WordPress, Shopify, Next.js, and React/Vite. Each template includes platform-specific rules — for example, WordPress templates block /wp-admin/ but allow /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php, while Shopify templates handle the /cart/ and /checkout/ paths that Shopify generates automatically. Click a template to instantly apply it, then customize as needed.