Role of robots.txt file in SEO: Internet Marketing Team
Do you know what is robots.txt?
The “robots.txt” file is a straightforward text document used to tell web crawlers and indexers (often referred to as crawlers or spiders) which pages or parts of a website to crawl and index and which ones to skip over. Using this, you can filter out sensitive or pointless pages from search results.
The “robots.txt” file can be used by an SEO company in Gilbert, Arizona to make sure that search engines properly crawl and index their clients’ websites. Additionally, they can use it to prevent any pages on their own website from being indexed by search engines. The “robots.txt” file can be used in the process of increasing a website’s exposure and rating on search engines like Google, which is the ultimate objective of an SEO company.
How does it work?
When a website has a “robots.txt” file, it instructs search engine robots which pages or sections should be crawled and indexed and which shouldn’t. When a search engine robot accesses a website, the file is located in the root directory and is downloaded from there. The file uses a particular syntax to indicate which robots should or should not visit particular internet pages.
For instance, if a website contains the following information in its “robots.txt” file:
javascript
User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow : /private/
This would tell Googlebot, the search engine crawler, to avoid indexing any pages in the website’s “private” directory. Unless they are specifically excluded in the “robots.txt” file, other search engine robots may still crawl and index such pages.
When advising search engine robots on which pages or sections of a website should be scanned and indexed and which should not, the “robots.txt” file follows a certain protocol. The “Robots Exclusion Protocol” is the colloquial name for this protocol.
The Robots Exclusion Protocol can be used by an internet marketing team to make sure that search engines properly scan and index the websites of their clients. Additionally, they can use it to prevent any pages on their own website from being indexed by search engines. An Internet Marketing Team can increase a website’s exposure and rank on search engines like Google by utilizing the “robots.txt” file correctly.