What does the robots.txt file do? - Effects on SEO

The robots.txt file has certain effects on the Search engine optimization (SEO) or the indexing of one's websites on search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo, Ask, etc.

Impact of robots.txt on SEO: what does the file do?

The robots.txt file is a file which, if it exists, tells the search engine robots which websites they should not index on their way through the network. The pages mentioned in robot.txt therefore do not appear in the SERPS (Search Engine Result Pages).

There are two ways to find out which pages are filtered by search engine robots:

1. a look into the robots.txt file
2. Google Webmaster Tools Status/Blocked URLs section

robots.txt - Effects on SEO: When do I need the file?

You only need the robot.txt if you want to exclude certain pages of your website from being indexed by search engines. As long as you have all your pages in the Index of the search engines, you can do without the robots.txt or simply delete it if it is present.

Examples of pages in connection with the use of robots.txt, i.e. the exclusion of pages from the SERPS, are first and foremost all security-relevant pages of a website. Pages relating to the payment process can and should therefore be written in robots.txt and thus excluded from search engines.

Everyone should also think about which pages he or she does not want to see in the SERPS.

Where is the robots.txt file located in WordPress?

With WordPress, the robots.txt is usually located in the root, i.e. in the root directory of the domain, i.e. in the folder where the wp-config.php file is also located.

Effects on the SEO

The actual impact on the Search engine optimization are rather secondary, as the robots.txt only has an inverse character. However, if you want to suppress word families that occur in certain pages and are not directly related to the main topic of the website, the pages listed in robots.txt and their links have an influence on this.

Of course, the smaller the number of content pages on the website, the greater this influence. Put the other way around. The larger a website becomes, the less influence robots.txt will have on the overall ranking of the website in the SERPS.

FAQ

What is the robots.txt file? arrow icon in accordion
The robots.txt file is a text file that is uploaded to the root directory of a web page. The file contains instructions for search engine robots that crawl the web page. With this file, a website can specify which pages are allowed to be indexed by search engines and which are not.
Why should you check your robots.txt file? arrow icon in accordion
It is important to check the robots.txt file regularly, as it determines which pages may be indexed by search engine robots. An incorrectly configured robots.txt entry can result in important pages not being indexed and the website's search engine rankings being affected.
How to check the robots.txt file? arrow icon in accordion
There are several ways to check the robots.txt file. You can check the file manually by loading it into a text editor and looking for errors. Or you can use a program like Google's Robots.txt Tester to make sure that all entries are correct.
Why should you check the robots.txt file regularly? arrow icon in accordion
When the page structure or content of a website changes, it may be necessary to update the robots.txt file to ensure that the correct pages are available for search engine indexing. Therefore, it is important to check the robots.txt file regularly to ensure that all entries are correct.
What is a wildcard entry in the robots.txt file? arrow icon in accordion
A wildcard entry in a robots.txt file allows the robot to index all pages under a specific URL. For example, a wildcard entry may look like this: User-agent: * Disallow: /*.html. This command tells the robot not to index all HTML pages under the specified URL.
Why add user agent instructions in robots.txt? arrow icon in accordion
User agent instructions in robots.txt are a way to tell the search engine robot which pages are allowed to be indexed and which are not. For example, if a particular page should not be accessible to search engine robots, you can send this instruction to the robot to ensure that it does not index that page.
Where is the robots.txt file stored on my website? arrow icon in accordion
The robots.txt file must be stored in the root directory of the web page. It must be stored directly next to the "index.html" or "index.php" file.
Can a robots.txt file influence search engine positioning? arrow icon in accordion
No, the robots.txt file does not directly influence search engine positioning. However, it can help to index the right pages, which affects the search engine positioning.
Is it possible to use multiple robots.txt files on one web page? arrow icon in accordion
No, it is only possible to use one robots.txt file on a web page. If you want to use multiple robots.txt files on your website, you must combine all entries into a single robots.txt file.
Can search engine robots ignore the robots.txt file? arrow icon in accordion
No, the search engine robots must follow the instructions in the robots.txt file. If a robot does not follow an instruction, the website can block the robot or take another action.

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