The Robots.txt file, which specifies how spiders create an index of the website, is used by SEO for site administration. When done correctly, it improves your site’s position and visitors, but even little errors can seriously harm your site’s SEO.
Four errors are listed below, especially when using robots.txt to improve SEO for a particular website:
Restricting the Indexation of Specific Web Pages
One frequent problem with robots.txt is that when people set up the restrictions, they unintentionally prevent Googlebot or any other spider from reaching important pages. Blocking URLs that include crucial information, such as blog posts or product sites, prevents search engines from indexing them at all, which hurts your exposure. Always verify which pages are prohibited, and remember that disallow rules might occasionally be misleading. Use the robots.txt Tester in the Google Search Console to examine your robots.txt file and see whether any crucial pages have been purposefully left out.
Turning off JavaScript and CSS files
Blocking CSS and JavaScript files is an example of out-of-date thinking; while it was appropriate in the past, it is now incorrect. Search engines, like Google, employ sitemaps, particularly those in the XML format, to understand how your website functions and looks across all devices. If prohibited, search engines may misunderstand or disregard layout and user experience, negatively impacting SEO. To help search engines better understand your website, please deepen permissions for these kinds of files in your robots.txt file.
Carelessly applying the directives and the wildcard
In robots.txt, wildcards and directives like the asterisk * and dollar sign $ are crucial, but if used improperly, they can result in limits. To prohibit all PDF files, for instance, add Disallow: /*.pdf$. This will also reject all URL addresses that finish in “pdf.” Similarly, if you utilize * or $ incorrectly, search engines won’t be able to index a lot of your website. To avoid extending the ban to crucial areas of your website, double-check any wildcard rules.
Not Authorizing Access to Essential Directories
Certain folders, such /images/ and/or /videos/, may be essential for SEO or a better user experience, depending on the content. Additionally, they prevent the search engine from indexing and storing your media assets, which could potentially impact your ranking in image or video searches. Allowing search engines to index these directories improves your chances of appearing in the image and video search section, which will boost website traffic. Verify which directories are crucial for SEO and confirm that your robots.txt file contains them.
Conclusion
One tool that can improve your SEO is the robots.txt sitemap, but if used improperly, it can do damage to your website because it’s simple to inadvertently block important pages, misconfigure directives, or forget to update. You may effectively allow search engine bots to crawl and index your website by changing robots.txt and utilizing appropriate directives. Search engine bots require permission to access files via CSS and JavaScript. To properly use robots.txt to improve the site’s SEO and, consequently, expand its public reach, these should be avoided.