Robots.txt Analyzer

What is robots.txt?

The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which pages or files they can or can't request from your site. It's located at the root of your domain (e.g. example.com/robots.txt) and follows a standard format with User-Agent, Allow, and Disallow directives.

Why analyze your robots.txt?

A misconfigured robots.txt can accidentally block search engines from indexing important pages — or expose private areas you meant to hide. Regular analysis helps you catch issues before they hurt your rankings.

Common robots.txt mistakes

• Blocking CSS/JS files — prevents Google from rendering your pages correctly
• Missing Sitemap directive — the Sitemap line helps crawlers discover your full site structure
• Using Disallow: / without intent — this blocks your entire site from being indexed
• Forgetting trailing slashes — /admin blocks the page, /admin/ blocks the directory
• No robots.txt at all — crawlers will index everything, including staging or admin pages

Tips

• Always include a Sitemap: line pointing to your XML sitemap
• Test changes with Google Search Console's robots.txt tester before deploying
• Use specific paths instead of broad blocks — be surgical, not sweeping
• Remember: robots.txt is publicly visible. Never rely on it to hide sensitive content