Robots.txt File Examples (Basic & Advanced)

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A properly configured robots.txt file is essential for guiding search engine crawlers and protecting sensitive or non-essential sections of your website. However, this file is easy to misconfigure — which can lead to unintended deindexing or exposure.

Below, we provide two example configurations: a simple robots.txt file suitable for most websites, and a slightly more advanced version tailored to specific bots.

Basic Robots.txt File Example

This configuration is ideal for most websites that want to be fully accessible to all search engine crawlers.

Purpose:

  • Grants access to all crawlers
  • Specifies the location of the XML sitemap

Example:

User-agent: *
Disallow:

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Explanation:

  • User-agent: * allows all bots to crawl the site.
  • Disallow: (left blank) means no directories are restricted.
  • The sitemap URL helps search engines discover all your site’s content more efficiently.

Advanced Robots.txt File Example

This configuration provides greater control by specifying directives for individual bots such as Googlebot and Bingbot.

Purpose:

  • Blocks Googlebot from accessing the /shoes/ directory
  • Blocks Bingbot from accessing the /socks/ directory
  • Includes the XML sitemap

Example:

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /shoes/

User-agent: BingBot
Disallow: /socks/

Sitemap: https://www.example.com/sitemap.xml

Explanation:

  • Each User-agent section targets a specific crawler.
  • Disallow lines define the directories those bots are not allowed to index.
  • The sitemap remains available to all bots for structured content discovery.

Important Considerations

  • Do not use robots.txt to hide sensitive information. These files are public and can still be accessed directly.
  • For private content, use authentication or meta noindex tags with proper server configurations.
  • Always test your robots.txt file using tools like Google Search Console’s Robots.txt Tester.

Final Thoughts

A well-crafted robots.txt file is a small but powerful tool in your SEO strategy. Whether you need a simple configuration or tailored bot directives, make sure your file aligns with your content visibility goals.

Would you like a custom robots.txt for your website? Just provide your domain and content structure — I’ll be happy to generate one for you.

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