Two domains on the same server

[Mike Ratcliffe]

I have two domains on the same server and both contain scripts that I would like to prevent googlebot etc from accessing.

My domains are constructed as follows:

[ableweddings.com...] points at / on my server

[ratcliffefamily.co.uk...] points at /ratcliffefamily on the same server

My question is whether I use one or 2 robots.txt files and if I need two then where do I put them?

Do I have one in / that excludes /ratcliffefamily from the domain ableweddings.com and one in /ratcliffefamily that does not contain the excludes (for the ratcliffefamily.co.uk domain?

I guess I am unsure whether I should put robots.txt in the server root or the domain root.

I am sure this is a common issue, does anybody know the answer?

[Damian]

Hi Mike, welcome to webmasterworld!

Try not to mention specific urls when it can be avoided, I'm sure a moderator will be around soon to snip the actual urls.

I think you need two robots.txt files, unless you configure the server otherwise.

Googlebot will look for the robots.txt file for your second domain at
[example.com...]
which would lead your server to serve the robots.txt file located at
maindomain/seconddomain/robots.txt

Alternatively, if you like you can also configure the server to make a symbolic link [utexas.edu] to the file on your maindomain.

[Mike Ratcliffe]

Oops, thanks ... I did not consider that.

There is no option to edit the thread so I can not edit it myself.

I should have read the rules first, I apologise for not doing so.

When one of the mods finds this please edit it.

Thanks for your help Damian

[Damian]

Do I have one in / that excludes /ratcliffefamily from the domain ableweddings.com and one in /ratcliffefamily that does not contain the excludes (for the ratcliffefamily.co.uk domain?

I just noticed you had one more question..
yes, that's right.