How to Add a robots.txt File in Blogger: A Step-by-Step Guide

How to Add a robots.txt File in Blogger: A Step-by-Step Guide

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The robots.txt file is a simple text file that is used for controlling the crawling and indexing of search engines on your website. In case you are on Blogger and you run a blog, adding a custom robots.txt file is an added advantage in order to control the indexing pages for better SEO of your blog.

In this post, we will guide you through how to add and customize a robot.txt file on your Blogger blog for better crawling of the website by different search engines.

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What is robots.txt?

The robots.txt file instructs the search engine bot on what all parts of your website should be crawled and indexed, and what all parts are supposed to be avoided. This will also be helpful in avoiding indexing by search engines for pages you do not want to appear in the search results, such as admin pages or duplicate content.

Why Should You Use robots.txt in Blogger?

• Control Search Engine Crawling: Decide which parts of your site search engines should index.
• Prevent Duplicate Content: Stop search engines from indexing duplicate or low-value pages.
• Improve SEO: Ensure that search engines focus on the most valuable pages of your site.

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How to Add a robots.txt File in Blogger

Step 1: Access the Blogger Dashboard

1. Log in to Your Blogger Account: Go to Blogger and sign in with your Google account.
2. Select Your Blog: Choose the blog where you want to add or edit the robots.txt file.

Step 2: Enable Custom robots.txt Settings

1. Go to Settings: In the Blogger dashboard, navigate to Settings from the left-hand menu.
2. Scroll Down to Crawlers and Indexing: Look for the "Crawlers and Indexing" section under Settings.
3. Enable Custom robots.txt: Click on the Custom robots.txt toggle to enable it. Once enabled, a new text box will appear where you can add your custom robots.txt directives.

Step 3: Create and Add Your Custom robots.txt File

Create the robots.txt Content: You can create a simple robots.txt file using the following template:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /search

Allow: /

Sitemap: https://yourblog.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml

User-agent: * indicates that these rules apply to all search engine bots.

Disallow: /search prevents search engines from indexing search result pages, which are generally considered low-value.

Allow: / allows bots to index all other pages.

Sitemap: This line specifies the location of your sitemap, helping search engines crawl your content more effectively.

2. Add Your robots.txt Content: Copy the above code and paste it into the custom robots.txt text box in Blogger. Make sure to replace https://yourblog.blogspot.com with your actual blog URL.

3. Save Changes: After adding the content, click the Save button to apply the changes.

 

Step 4: Verify Your robots.txt File

1.Check the robots.txt File: Visit https://yourblog.blogspot.com/robots.txt (replace with your blog URL) to ensure that the file has been added correctly. You should see the content you added.

2.Test with Google Search Console: Go to Google Search Console and use the URL Inspection Tool to test how Googlebot views your site. You can also use the robots.txt Tester under the Legacy Tools and Reports section to see if your robots.txt file is blocking any important pages.

Best Practices for Using robots.txt in Blogger

• Keep It Simple: Avoid overly complex rules that might unintentionally block important pages.
• Disallow Unnecessary Pages: Use Disallow for pages that don’t need to be indexed, such as search result pages (/search), admin pages, or duplicate content.
• Regularly Review Your robots.txt File: Ensure it’s up to date and reflects the current structure of your blog.

Conclusion

Adding a robots.txt file in Blogger is a simple yet powerful way to control how search engines crawl and index your site. By customizing the robots.txt file, you can improve your blog's SEO, prevent the indexing of low-value pages, and ensure that search engines focus on the most important content.

Start optimizing your Blogger blog today! Customize your robots.txt file to guide search engines effectively and boost your blog's visibility.

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FAQs

What happens if I don't use a robots.txt file?

• If you don’t use a robots.txt file, search engines will crawl and index all publicly accessible pages on your site. This can sometimes lead to indexing of low-value or duplicate content.

Can I block specific pages from being indexed?

• Yes, you can block specific pages by adding Disallow: /page-url to your robots.txt file, replacing /page-url with the relative URL of the page you want to block.

How do I know if my robots.txt file is working correctly? 

• Use Google Search Console's robots.txt Tester tool to see if your robots.txt file is properly configured and to check if any important pages are being blocked unintentionally.