How to Easily Analyze and Translate Any Robots.txt File

I have already shared my opinion on the variety of various Robots.txt checkers and verifiers: be aware of them but use those with caution. They are full of errors and misinterpretations.

However I happened to come across one really good one the other day: robots.txt checker. I found it useful to use for self-education in the first place.

Checks are done considering the original 1994 document A Standard for Robot Exclusion, the 1997 Internet Draft specification A Method for Web Robots Control and nonstandard extensions that have emerged over the years.

The tool allows to both run a general check and a user-agent specific analysis:

Translate Robots.txt File Easily

The tool does a good job “translating” the Robots.txt file in easy-to-understand language.

Here’s an example of it explaining the default Robots.txt file:

allowed by empty Disallow directive

The tool is also good at organizing the Robots.txt file by breaking it into sections based on the useragent:

Be Aware of Warnings

The tool warns you of some essential issues, for example the way search engines might treat the wildcard in the Disallow directive:

All in all, I found the tool basic, yet useful enough and would recommend using it for those learning Robots.txt syntax for easier data organization.

Subscribe to SEJ

Get our daily newsletter from SEJ's Founder Loren Baker about the latest news in the industry!