The WordPress robots.txt file is a crucial component of search engine optimization (SEO) that helps search engines understand which parts of your website to crawl and index. While the default WordPress robots.txt file is sufficient, it’s not ideal, and customizing it can help improve your website’s crawlability and indexing.
Where Exactly Is The WordPress Robots.txt File?
The WordPress robots.txt file is generated by default and is not represented by a file on your server. To access it, you can visit the /robots.txt URL of your website, such as
The Default WordPress Robots.txt (And Why It’s Not Enough)
The default WordPress robots.txt file is as follows:
- User-agent: * Disallow: /wp-admin/ Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php
This is safe, but it’s not optimal. The default file only disallows the /wp-admin/ directory and allows the /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php file to be crawled. However, this is not the only thing you can do to improve your website’s crawlability and indexing.
Always Include Your XML Sitemap(s)
It’s essential to include all your XML sitemaps in the robots.txt file to help search engines discover all relevant URLs. You can list your sitemaps like this:
- Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap_index.xml
- Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap2.xml
This will help search engines crawl all the URLs listed in your sitemaps, which can improve your website’s indexing and visibility.
Some Things Not To Block
There are some common mistakes to avoid when customizing your robots.txt file. For example, you should not block core WordPress directories like /wp-includes/, /wp-content/plugins/, or /wp-content/uploads/. These directories contain essential files that are necessary for your website’s functionality.
Blocking these directories can cause issues with your website’s renderability and indexing. Instead, you should allow search engines to crawl these directories, as long as they are not necessary for the specific page or post being crawled.
Managing Staging Sites
Staging sites are an essential part of the development process, but they can also pose a risk to your website’s crawlability and indexing. To manage staging sites, you can disallow the entire site in your robots.txt file. However, you should also use the noindex meta tag to ensure that search engines do not index your staging site.
Clean Up Some Non-Essential Core WordPress Paths
Some core WordPress paths, such as /trackback/, /comments/feed/, */embed/, /cgi-bin/, and /wp-login.php, can be safely blocked in your robots.txt file. These paths are not necessary for your website’s functionality and can cause issues with your website’s crawlability and indexing.
Disallow Specific Query Parameters
Some query parameters, such as tracking parameters, comment responses, or print versions, can be safely disallowed in your robots.txt file. These parameters are not necessary for your website’s functionality and can cause issues with your website’s crawlability and indexing.
Disallowing Low-Value Taxonomies And SERPs
Some taxonomies and SERPs, such as tag archives and internal search results pages, can be safely disallowed in your robots.txt file. However, you should weigh this against your specific content strategy and ensure that these pages are not necessary for your website’s functionality.
Monitor On Crawl Stats
Once you’ve customized your robots.txt file, it’s essential to monitor crawl stats to ensure that your website is being crawled correctly. You can use tools like Google Search Console to monitor crawl stats and ensure that your website is being indexed correctly.
Final Thoughts
Customizing your WordPress robots.txt file can help improve your website’s crawlability and indexing. However, it’s essential to avoid common mistakes and ensure that your website is being crawled correctly.
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