SEO

Robots.txt Tester

Paste your robots.txt, test URL paths against it, and validate syntax. Catch misconfigurations before search engines do.

Quick Answer

The robots.txt file lives at the root of your domain (example.com/robots.txt) and tells search engine crawlers which URLs they can and cannot access. It uses User-agent directives to target specific bots (e.g., Googlebot), Allow and Disallow rules to control access, and Sitemap directives to point crawlers to your XML sitemap. A misconfigured robots.txt can accidentally block your entire site from being indexed — always test changes before deploying.

Parsed Rules

User-agent: *
L2ALLOW/
L3DISALLOW/admin/
L4DISALLOW/private/
L5DISALLOW/api/
L6DISALLOW/tmp/*
L7DISALLOW/*.json$
User-agent: Googlebot
L10ALLOW/api/public/
L11DISALLOW/api/
L12DISALLOW/search?*

Sitemaps Found

https://example.com/sitemap.xml

About This Tool

The Robots.txt Tester is a free tool that lets you validate your robots.txt file and test whether specific URL paths are allowed or blocked for any search engine crawler. Paste your robots.txt content, enter a URL path and user-agent, and instantly see whether the path is allowed or blocked — along with the exact matching rule.

A misconfigured robots.txt file is one of the most common and costly SEO mistakes. A single misplaced rule can block search engines from crawling your entire site, your most important pages, or your sitemap. This tool helps you catch these issues before deploying by parsing every directive, validating syntax, and flagging common mistakes like missing User-agent declarations, conflicting rules, and invalid patterns.

The parser supports all standard robots.txt directives: User-agent, Allow, Disallow, Sitemap, and Crawl-delay. It handles wildcard patterns (*) for matching any sequence of characters and the end-of-string anchor ($) for exact URL endings. When multiple rules match a URL, the tool applies the most-specific-match-wins algorithm used by Google and most major search engines.

All parsing and testing happens entirely in your browser. Your robots.txt content is never sent to any server, stored, or logged. The tool is free, requires no signup, and works offline once loaded.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is a robots.txt file and why is it important?
A robots.txt file is a plain text file placed at the root of your website (e.g., example.com/robots.txt) that tells search engine crawlers which pages they are allowed or not allowed to access. It is the first file crawlers check when visiting your site. While it is not a security mechanism (bots can ignore it), reputable search engines like Google, Bing, and Yandex respect these rules. A misconfigured robots.txt can accidentally block your entire site from being indexed.
How does robots.txt pattern matching work?
Robots.txt uses simple pattern matching with two special characters: * (wildcard, matches any sequence of characters) and $ (end of URL anchor). For example, '/images/' blocks everything under /images/, '/*.pdf$' blocks all URLs ending in .pdf, and '/page*' blocks /page, /page1, /pages/about, etc. When multiple rules match a URL, the most specific rule (longest matching pattern) wins, regardless of whether it is Allow or Disallow.
What happens if my robots.txt has conflicting Allow and Disallow rules?
When both an Allow and Disallow rule match the same URL path, Google uses the most specific (longest) matching rule. For example, if you have 'Disallow: /folder/' and 'Allow: /folder/page.html', the Allow rule wins for /folder/page.html because it is more specific. If rules have equal specificity, Allow takes precedence in Google's implementation. Other search engines may handle ties differently.
Does robots.txt block pages from appearing in search results?
Not exactly. Robots.txt prevents crawlers from accessing a page, but if other pages link to a blocked URL, search engines may still list it in results with limited information (no snippet or cached version). To fully remove a page from search results, use a 'noindex' meta tag or X-Robots-Tag HTTP header. Robots.txt is for controlling crawl access, not indexing.
Is my robots.txt content sent to a server in this tool?
No. All parsing, validation, and testing happens entirely in your browser using JavaScript. Your robots.txt content is never transmitted, stored, or logged. The tool works completely offline once the page loads.