Robots-text

A robots.txt file is a simple text file that informs web robots (such as Googlebot, Bingbot, etc.) which pages or sections of a website they are allowed to access. The robots.txt file is placed in the root directory of a website and serves as a set of instructions for web robots.

Here's a step-by-step guide to understanding how robots.txt works:

  1. How to create a robots.txt file: To create a robots.txt file, you can simply create a new text file with the name robots.txt and save it in the root directory of your website. For example, if your website's URL is https://example.com, the robots.txt file should be located at https://example.com/robots.txt.

  2. The structure of a robots.txt file: The structure of a robots.txt file is simple and consists of two parts: User-agent and Disallow. The User-agent line specifies the name of the web robot to which the subsequent Disallow lines apply. The Disallow lines specify the pages or sections of the website that the specified web robot is not allowed to access.

  3. Examples of robots.txt: Here are some examples of how you can use robots.txt to block web robots from accessing specific pages or sections of your website: 

 

User-agent: *
Disallow: /secret/
Disallow: /private/

 

In this example, the User-agent: * line applies the subsequent Disallow lines to all web robots. The Disallow: /secret/ and Disallow: /private/ lines specify that all web robots are not allowed to access the /secret/ and /private/ sections of the website.

 

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /

 

In this example, the User-agent: Googlebot line applies the subsequent Disallow: / line to the Googlebot web robot. The Disallow: / line specifies that Googlebot is not allowed to access any pages of the website.

  1. Note about robots.txt: While robots.txt is widely supported by web robots, it is not a guarantee that web robots will actually obey the instructions in the file. Web robots may choose to ignore robots.txt for various reasons, such as when they are looking for information for security purposes or when they need to access the site for other reasons. As a result, robots.txt should not be relied upon as a means of securing sensitive information on a website.

In conclusion, the robots.txt file is a simple, but useful, tool for website owners to control which web robots are allowed to access which pages or sections of their website. By properly using robots.txt, website owners can help improve the efficiency and performance of web robots, while also protecting sensitive information.

 

Placement of robots.txt

The robots.txt file is a text file that provides instructions to search engines about which pages or sections of a website should not be crawled and indexed. The file is placed in the root directory of a website and can be accessed through a URL in the following format: http://www.example.com/robots.txt.

For example, if a website has the URL http://www.example.com, its robots.txt file would be located at http://www.example.com/robots.txt.

It's important to note that the placement of the robots.txt file is standardized and must be in the root directory of the website for it to be accessible by search engines. Additionally, the robots.txt file is not a legally enforceable directive and search engines may choose to ignore it.

In conclusion, the placement of the robots.txt file is crucial in ensuring that it can be accessed by search engines. The file must be placed in the root directory of the website and be accessible through a URL in the format http://www.example.com/robots.txt. This allows search engines to easily find and understand the instructions provided in the file, which helps control how they crawl and index the website's pages.