Paste the file content
Copy the contents of your robots.txt file into the validator.
Technical SEO Tool
Robots.txt Validator
Check your robots.txt file for syntax errors, missing directives, duplicate rules, invalid sitemap URLs, conflicting instructions and common crawling problems before publishing it.
✓ Line-by-line validation
✓ Corrected file suggestion
✓ Browser-based analysis
1
Enter robots.txt content
Paste the file content below or generate the robots.txt URL from a domain.
Enter a website URL to generate its robots.txt location.
The validation is performed in your browser. No file content is uploaded.
How it works
Validate a robots.txt file in three steps
Find formatting and crawling issues before search engine bots read the file.
Run the validation
The tool checks directives, groups, paths, sitemaps and duplicate rules.
Fix detected issues
Review the corrected version and verify it before publishing.
What is a robots.txt file?
A robots.txt file is a plain-text file placed at the root of a website. It gives web crawlers instructions about which paths they may or may not request.
Robots.txt is useful for crawl management, but it is not a reliable method for keeping private content out of search results or protecting sensitive data.
Best practices
Create a cleaner robots.txt file
Start groups with User-agent
Every crawler rule group should clearly identify the intended user agent.
Use root-relative paths
Allow and Disallow rules normally begin with a forward slash.
Use absolute sitemap URLs
Sitemap directives should contain complete HTTP or HTTPS URLs.
Avoid unnecessary duplication
Repeated rules add clutter and make future maintenance harder.
Test important URLs
Check that valuable pages are not blocked by broad directory rules.
Keep the file at the site root
The standard location is example.com/robots.txt.
Common mistakes
Robots.txt issues to avoid
Missing User-agent
Allow and Disallow rules should belong to a clearly defined crawler group.
Blocking the entire website
A Disallow: / rule can prevent crawlers from requesting all site paths.
Invalid sitemap paths
Relative sitemap values may be ignored or interpreted inconsistently.
Using unsupported directives
Not every crawler supports directives such as Crawl-delay or Host.
Conflicting rules
Overlapping Allow and Disallow rules can produce unexpected crawling behavior.
Treating robots.txt as noindex
Blocking crawling does not guarantee that a URL will disappear from search results.
Frequently asked questions
Robots.txt Validator FAQs
Where should the robots.txt file be located?
The standard location is the root of the hostname, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.
Does Disallow remove a page from Google?
No. Disallow limits crawling, but the URL may still be discovered and indexed from other signals.
Can a robots.txt file contain multiple sitemaps?
Yes. Multiple Sitemap directives may be included when each points to a valid absolute sitemap URL.
Is Crawl-delay supported by every search engine?
No. Support varies by crawler, so confirm whether the target search engine recognizes it.
Can comments be used in robots.txt?
Yes. A comment begins with the hash symbol and continues to the end of the line.
Can this validator fetch my live robots.txt file?
This browser-based version generates the standard file path but does not fetch remote files because many sites block cross-origin browser requests.