Robots.txt Content

[almo136]

I created a robots.txt file and added this content to it:

sitemap: http://example.com/sitemap/sitemap.xml
User-agent: *
Disallow: /enable-cookies
Disallow: /provacy-policy

Does this seem correct. I'm trying to show the search engines where my sitemap is and block those 2 pages from being crawled.

The 2 pages I want to exclude are included in the sitemap (it gets automatically generated by my cms)

Thanks.

[penders]

sitemap: http://example.com/sitemap/sitemap.xml
User-agent: *
Disallow: /enable-cookies
Disallow: /provacy-policy

I have only seen 'Sitemap:' (with a capital 'S') - although I'm not sure whether it is case-sensitive or not? (All other directives have a capital first letter)

I would also put the Sitemap: directive last (and separated by a blank line - used to delimit records in robots.txt). I have read that not all robots support the Sitemap: directive, so in order to prevent these bots from prematurely aborting processing of the robots.txt file it should appear last.

The 2 pages I want to exclude are included in the sitemap (it gets automatically generated by my cms)

IMHO, if they are disallowed in robots.txt then the search engine should be prevented from accessing them, regardless of whether they are linked to from elsewhere, or included in your sitemap - but I don't know for sure; just my opinion. Ideally they should not be in your sitemap.

[winwinmantra]

Why don't you use Google webmaster tool (www.google.com/webmasters/tools/) to submit the sitemap. I work more effectivly and fast when compared to robots.txt file.

Hyder
<snip>

[edited by: goodroi at 2:21 pm (utc) on Feb 23, 2010]
[edit reason] Please no signature links [/edit]

[almo136]

Because this will only submit it to google search engines. Robots.txt will allow other search engines to find it.

[penders]

Just a thought... with the sitemap: directive in robots.txt do you still need to resubmit it to the search engines (via HTTP request for example)?

Since if you use Google Webmaster Tools to submit the sitemap in the beginning, you still need to resubmit it when it changes.

[almo136]

My cms submits generates and submits the sitemap automatically to google and yahoo.

[amythepoet]

I am missing a robots.txt file in my site

can you please tell me if it is n ecessary and why? I"m confused

thank you

[phranque]

by default the search engine bots will crawl your site unless excluded by some technical method.
a missing or empty robots.txt file is equivalent to permission to crawl.
an empty robots.txt is preferable since the frequent requests for that file will return a 200 OK status code response instead if a 404 Not Found.
if you wish to exclude some or all bots from crawling a part of your site, the robots.txt file is one of the methods available.

[amythepoet]

ok, I got it, thank you