How to Fix Indexing Issues in Google: A Step-by-Step Guide

Why Learning SEO Matters

Search engines like Google use automated bots (like Googlebot) to crawl, index, and rank web pages. But what if you want to block certain pages from being crawled? That’s where the robots.txt file comes in.
  • What robots.txt is and how it works

  • How to create and optimize a robots.txt file

  • Common mistakes to avoid

  • Best practices for controlling search engine access

What Is a robots.txt File?

A robots.txt file is a plain text file that tells search engine crawlers which pages or files they can or cannot request from your site.
  • Location:

    Must be placed in the root directory (e.g., https://example.com/robots.txt).

  • How to create and optimize a robots.txt file

  • Common mistakes to avoid

  • Best practices for controlling search engine access

How to Create a robots.txt File

1. Basic Syntax

User-agent: [crawler-name]
Disallow: [path-to-block]
Allow: [path-to-allow]

2. Common Examples

Block All Crawlers from a Folder
User-agent: *
Disallow: /private-folder/

Block a Specific Bot (e.g., Bingbot)
User-agent: Bingbot
Disallow: /no-bing/

Allow One Bot While Blocking Others
User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Block Images but Allow HTML Pages
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /
User-agent: *
Allow: /

Best Practices for robots.txt

1. Don’t Use robots.txt to Hide Sensitive Data

  • Bad: Blocking /admin/ in robots.txt (hackers can still access it).

  • Better: Use password protection or server-side restrictions.

2. Avoid Blocking CSS & JavaScript

Google needs these to render pages properly. Blocking them can hurt indexing.

3. Use Allow to Override Disallow

Google needs these to render pages properly. Blocking them can hurt indexing.

4. Submit robots.txt to Google Search Console

Helps Google detect crawl issues. Go to Google Search Console > Indexing > Robots.txt Tester.

Testing & Validating robots.txt

Google’s Robots.txt Tester (in Search Console)
 – Checks for errors and crawlability.
 Third-Party Tools
 – Screaming Frog
 – SEOrobot

Advanced: Dynamic robots.txt (For Large Sites)

If your site has thousands of pages, consider:
  • Generating robots.txt dynamically (via PHP, Node.js, etc.).

  • Blocking low-value parameters (e.g., ?sessionid=).

Example (PHP):

<?php
 header(‘Content-Type: text/plain’);
 echo “User-agent: *\n”;
 echo “Disallow: /search/\n”;
 ?>

Common robots.txt Mistakes

1. Blocking SEO-Critical Pages

 Bad:
 Disallow: /blog/

Fix:
 Only block non-essential pages (e.g., /temp/, /test/).

2. Typos & Incorrect Syntax

 Bad:
 Useragent: *
 Disallow: /private

 ✅ Fix:
 User-agent: *
 Disallow: /private/

3. Using Wildcards Incorrectly

🚫 Bad:
 Disallow: *

 ✅ Correct:
 Disallow: /

Final Thoughts

A well-optimized robots.txt file helps guide search engines to your most important content while blocking irrelevant pages.
 Key Takeaways:

  • Place robots.txt in the root directory.

  • Use Disallow for blocking, Allow for exceptions.

  • Never rely on robots.txt for security.

  • Test with Google Search Console before deploying.

Need help? Run a crawl audit with Screaming Frog to check for errors!

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