Tool Guide

Robots.txt Common Mistakes

robots.txt is easy to get subtly wrong. This lists the mistakes that most often cause crawl problems and how to avoid them.

Frequent mistakes

  • Disallowing the whole site (Disallow: /) by accident.
  • Blocking CSS/JS needed to render content.
  • Assuming wildcard behavior is identical across all crawlers.
  • No Sitemap: directive.

Recommendations

  • Keep rules minimal and intentional.
  • Allow assets required for rendering.
  • Include a Sitemap line.
  • Test specific paths before shipping.

Verify

Test rules and a path with the Robots.txt Validator (simplified — not a full crawler). Background: improving crawlability.

FAQ

Is the validator a full crawler?

No — it is a simplified checker that approximates Allow/Disallow longest-match behavior.

Does Disallow remove a page from search?

Not necessarily; disallow blocks crawling, not indexing of already-known URLs. Use other controls for removal.

Related guides

Improve crawlabilityFull guide AI crawler accessibilityRelated

Related tool

Robots.txt ValidatorFree, browser-only — no upload

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