Free Tool Guide
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4 min read
How to Use the Free Robots.txt Validator
Check your crawler rules and ensure search engines can access your content.
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The robots.txt file tells search engine crawlers which parts of your site they can and can't access. A misconfigured robots.txt can accidentally block important pages from being indexed—or worse, block your entire site. The Robots.txt Validator checks for common errors.
What is robots.txt?
robots.txt is a plain text file at your domain's root (example.com/robots.txt) that contains directives for web crawlers. Common directives include:
# Example robots.txt
User-agent: *
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Why Robots.txt Validation Matters
- Blocking your whole site — "Disallow: /" blocks everything
- Blocking important pages — Accidentally blocking /products/ or /blog/
- Syntax errors — Typos that break your directives
- Missing sitemap — Helps crawlers find all your pages
How to Use the Tool
Step 1: Enter Your Domain
Type your domain name (e.g., "example.com"). The tool fetches your robots.txt file automatically.
Step 2: Review the Score
See an overall health score based on syntax correctness and best practices.
Step 3: Check for Errors
The tool highlights syntax errors, unknown directives, and problematic rules like blocking all crawlers.
Step 4: Verify Sitemaps
See all sitemap URLs declared in your robots.txt. Click to verify they're accessible.
Robots.txt Best Practices
- Always include a sitemap — Add "Sitemap: [URL]" directive
- Don't block CSS/JS — Google needs these to render pages
- Block admin areas — /wp-admin/, /admin/, etc.
- Block duplicate content — Search filters, print pages, etc.
- Test before deploying — Always validate changes
Ready to validate your robots.txt?
Check any site's crawler rules—free, no signup required.
Open Robots.txt Validator