Robots.txt Generator
Create robots.txt files for crawler control
About the Robots.txt Generator
A robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they may and may not visit, and a single typo can accidentally hide your whole site or expose pages you meant to block. This generator builds a correct robots.txt visually, so you set rules without memorizing the syntax.
Site owners and developers use it when launching a site, blocking admin or staging areas, or pointing crawlers at a sitemap. Presets cover the common cases — allow everything, block everything, or a WordPress-tuned setup — while custom mode lets you define rules per user-agent, reorder them, and add crawl delays.
How to Use the Robots.txt Generator
- Start from a preset (Allow All, Block All, or WordPress) or build from scratch.
- For each user-agent, add Allow or Disallow rules with their paths, reordering them as needed.
- Add more user-agents if you need different rules for specific crawlers.
- Add your sitemap URL, generate the file, and copy it into your site's root as robots.txt.
Why Use ToolForge’s Robots.txt Generator
- Presets for Allow All, Block All, and WordPress cover the most common setups, while custom mode handles anything specific.
- It supports multiple user-agents with reorderable rules and optional crawl-delay directives, matching the full robots.txt spec.
- It appends your sitemap reference, the line crawlers look for to discover your URLs.
- It generates the file locally with no account; you simply copy it to your site root.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is a robots.txt file for?
It is a plain-text file at your site's root that tells search engine crawlers which paths they may or may not request. It guides crawling, but note it is not a security measure — disallowed pages can still be accessed directly and may appear in results if linked elsewhere.
What is the difference between Allow and Disallow?
Disallow tells a crawler not to request a path, while Allow explicitly permits one — useful for carving out an exception inside a disallowed directory. The generator lets you mix both per user-agent and order them so the right rule wins.
Where do I put the generated file?
Save it as robots.txt in the root of your domain, so it is reachable at yoursite.com/robots.txt. Crawlers look for it there specifically; placed anywhere else, it will be ignored.
Should I block pages with robots.txt or noindex?
To keep a page out of search results, a noindex meta tag is more reliable, because robots.txt only controls crawling, not indexing. Use robots.txt to manage crawler load and access; use noindex when the goal is to keep something out of the index.
