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8 Common Robots.txt Issues And How To Fix Them

SEO

8 Common Robots.txt Issues And How To Fix Them

  • March 8, 2024

  • 139 Views

In this contemporary epoch, humans rely mostly on search engines to gain knowledge about any topic. Here, Robots.txt acts as a catalyst in managing and instructing search engine crawlers on how to crawl over a particular website. 

As every coin has two sides, similarly Robot.txt has some issues that need to be addressed. So, 8 common Robot.txt issues along with the methods to fix them are as follows:

1.Robots.txt Not In The Root Directory

Search robots fail to discover the files which are not in the root folders. 

To avoid this issue, make sure you move your file in the root directory.

2. Inappropriate usage of wildcards

Robot.txt only allows two wildcards

  1.  * representing instances of a valid character 
  2.  $ representing the end of a URL

To overcome this issue, make sure you minimise the usage of wildcards as poor placement of these wildcards could block your entire file.

3. Noindex In Robots.txt

Google has already stopped obeying the Noindex rules so avoid using such files and if you still use such files, they are generally indexed.

To overcome this issue, one can shift to alternatives of Noindex available. One of such examples is the robots meta tag which can be added to the head of a webpage to avoid indexing on google.

4. Blocked scripts and stylesheets

It generally seems logical to block crawler access to external JavaScripts and cascading style sheets (CSS). However, remember that Googlebot needs access to CSS and JS files to “see” your HTML and PHP pages correctly.

To overcome this obstacle, remove the line from your robots.txt file that is blocking access.

5.Avoid XML Sitemap URL

One can include the URL of XML sitemap in the robots.txt file. 

One can tackle the situation by omitting a sitemap as it would not negatively affect the actual core functionality and appearance of the website

6. Accessibility to development sites

Blocking crawlers from your live website is not a good idea, but so is not allowing them to crawl and index your under development pages. 

In case you see this when you shouldn’t (or don’t see it when you should), make the required changes to your robots.txt file and check that your website’s search appearance updates accordingly.

7. Usage of absolute URLs

Using relative paths in the robots.txt file is the recommended approach for indicating which parts of a site should not be accessed by crawlers.

One way to tackle this issue is while using an absolute URL, there’s no guarantee that crawlers will interpret it as intended and that the disallow/allow rule will be followed.

8. Deprecated & Unsupported Elements

Bing still supports crawl-delay, Google doesn’t, but it is often specified by webmasters. You used to be able to set crawl settings in Google Search Console, but this was removed towards the end of 2023.

It is seen that this was not a widely supported or standardised practice, and the preferred method for noindex was to use on-page robots, or x-robots measures at a page level. 

SEO

What is the definition of the Robot. Txts?

  • March 7, 2024

  • 116 Views

A text file called robot.txt is stored on a website’s server to provide instructions to online robots about how to navigate its pages. It is also known as the robots exclusion protocol or the robots.txt protocol. A robots.txt file is primarily used to tell web crawlers what website sections should be indexed or crawled and what parts should be disregarded. Robot. txts are beneficial for SEO, and there are several friendly tips for new users of SEO. 

 

Some critical factors of robots. txts.

The following are essential features of robots.txt files:

  • Content: A robots.txt file comprises one or more directives, each giving web spiders specific instructions. User-agent designates the web crawler to which the rule applies, and Disallow, which lists the URLs that shouldn’t be crawled, are common directives.
  • User-agent: The web crawler or user agent to which the following rules are applicable is specified by this directive. For instance, whereas User-agent applies to all crawlers, User-agent: Googlebot would apply regulations only to Google’s crawler.
  • Disallow: This directive lists the URLs the designated user agent is not supposed to crawl. Disallow: instructs crawlers, for instance, not to crawl any URLs that begin with private.
  • Allow: This directive lists URLs permitted to be crawled even when a more general rule prohibits crawling in a specific directory. It serves as an exception to any Disallow directives.
  • Sitemap: To provide the location of the website’s XML sitemap, specific robots.txt files contain a Sitemap directive. Having a sitemap is unnecessary, but it might make it easier for search engines to find and index the pages on your website.
  • Comments: Crawlers treat lines that start with “#” as comments and ignore them. The robots.txt file can be annotated for human readers using comments.

 

The most common issues of Robot. Txts. 

The following are the most typical problems with robots.txt files:

  • Syntax errors: If the robots.txt file has errors, web crawlers may be unable to understand the instructions properly. Missing or rearranged characters, improper formatting, and invalid directives are common syntax problems.
  • Essential Pages: Search engines may be unable to crawl and index vital content on your website if you unintentionally block critical pages or sections. Regularly checking the robots.txt file is necessary to ensure it does not unintentionally prevent access to important pages like home, product, or category pages.
  • Incorrect User-agent Directives: When user-agent directives are misconfigured, it might have unexpected effects, such as permitting or prohibiting access to crawlers that should be handled differently.
  • Image Files: Preventing search engine bots from correctly rendering and indexing web pages can be achieved by blocking access to CSS, JavaScript, or image files. Permitting access to these resources might enhance the website’s overall crawlability and user experience, even though they might need to be indexed.
  • Blocking Search Engine Crawlers: You can keep your website from being indexed in search engine results pages by unintentionally preventing search engine crawlers like Googlebot or Bingbot from visiting it.
  • Absence of a Sitemap Reference: Search engine crawlers may find it easier to locate and efficiently crawl pages if the robots.txt references the web XML sitemap.

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