Robots.txt Monitoring

The robots.txt file tells search engines which pages they can and cannot crawl. VitalSentinel monitors your robots.txt for errors and changes that could impact SEO.

What is robots.txt?

The robots.txt file is located at your domain root (e.g., https://example.com/robots.txt) and contains directives for search engine crawlers:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /public/

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Why Monitor robots.txt?

Prevent Accidental Blocking

A misconfigured robots.txt can:

• Block search engines from indexing your site
• Prevent crawling of important pages
• Cause pages to drop from search results

VitalSentinel automatically detects when your robots.txt rules conflict with your sitemap, alerting you when URLs you want indexed are being blocked.

Detect Unauthorized Changes

Monitor for:

• Unintended edits
• Malicious modifications
• Deployment errors

Ensure Proper Syntax

Invalid syntax can cause crawlers to:

• Ignore your directives
• Misinterpret blocking rules
• Miss sitemap references

What VitalSentinel Checks

Accessibility

• File exists at the correct location
• Returns 200 status code
• Content-type is correct (text/plain)

Syntax Validation

• Valid User-agent directives
• Proper Allow/Disallow format
• No conflicting rules
• Valid sitemap references

Common Errors Detected

Dashboard Overview

The robots.txt monitoring page shows:

Health Status

• Healthy (green) - No errors found
• Warning (yellow) - Minor issues detected
• Error (red) - Critical problems

Last Checked

When VitalSentinel last validated your robots.txt.

Content Preview

Current contents of your robots.txt file.

Error List

Any detected issues with:

• Line number
• Error description
• Suggested fix

Sitemap Conflicts

VitalSentinel checks if your robots.txt rules block any URLs from your sitemap. If sitemap URLs are blocked, you'll see:

• Number of blocked URLs
• List of specific URLs being blocked
• The rule causing the block

Common Issues

Blocking Important Pages

Problem:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /products/

This blocks all product pages from search engines.

Solution: Remove or modify the disallow rule if products should be indexed.

Blocking CSS/JS

Problem:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /assets/

Blocking CSS/JS prevents search engines from rendering your page properly.

Solution: Allow access to assets needed for rendering.

Wildcard Mistakes

Problem:

Disallow: *private*

Invalid syntax - wildcards work differently in robots.txt.

Solution:

Disallow: /private/

Missing Sitemap

Problem: No sitemap directive in robots.txt.

Solution: Add:

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Best Practices

Keep It Simple

• Use clear, specific rules
• Avoid complex patterns
• Test changes before deploying

Don't Block Googlebot Specifically

Unless necessary, avoid:

User-agent: Googlebot
Disallow: /

Reference Your Sitemap

Always include:

Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml

Test Before Deploying

Use Google Search Console's robots.txt tester before pushing changes.

Alerts

Set up alerts for robots.txt issues. Available alert presets:

• Robots.txt file changed - Get notified when the file content changes
• Robots.txt has syntax errors - Alert when syntax errors are detected
• Robots.txt blocks sitemap URLs - Alert when robots.txt rules block URLs from your sitemap

See Setting Up Alerts for configuration details.

Related Monitoring

Use these complementary features for complete SEO visibility:

• Sitemap Scanning - VitalSentinel automatically checks your sitemap URLs against robots.txt rules to detect conflicts
• Indexing Monitoring - See which pages Google has actually indexed
• Google Search Console - View crawl errors and indexing issues reported by Google

Troubleshooting

File Not Found

1. Verify the file exists at your domain root
2. Check file permissions
3. Ensure your server returns 200, not 404

Syntax Errors

1. Review the error message
2. Check the specific line number
3. Validate syntax using online tools

Changes Not Detected

1. Wait for the next check cycle
2. Ensure the file URL is accessible from external networks
3. Check for caching issues

Related Features