In the previous lessons, we explored various technical SEO aspects like website speed, mobile-friendliness, and the importance of clean website structure and code. Now, let’s delve into two fundamental technical SEO tools: robots.txt and sitemaps.
- robots.txt:
A robots.txt file is a text file placed on your website’s root directory. It provides instructions for search engine crawlers, telling them which pages on your website they can crawl and index, and which ones they should not.
Here are some key points to remember about robots.txt:
- Controls Crawling: It doesn’t block search engines from indexing your entire website, but rather instructs them on which pages to prioritize crawling.
- Focus on Important Content: Use robots.txt to prevent crawlers from indexing unimportant pages like login pages, duplicate content, or temporary files. This helps search engines focus on the valuable content you want them to index.
- Limited Blocking Power: Search engines are not obligated to follow your robots.txt instructions. It’s more of a suggestion.
- Sitemap:
A sitemap is an XML file that lists all the important pages on your website and provides additional information about each page, such as when it was last updated and its relative importance on your website.
Here’s why sitemaps are important:
- Improved Crawlability: A well-structured sitemap can help search engines discover and index all your website’s content, especially new or deeper pages within your website structure.
- Prioritization: You can use the sitemap to indicate the importance of different pages on your website. This can help search engines prioritize crawling and indexing of your most valuable content.
Working Together:
- robots.txt tells search engines which pages to crawl.
- Sitemap tells search engines what pages exist on your website.
While robots.txt gives instructions, a sitemap provides a clear overview of your website’s content.
Remember:
- You don’t necessarily need to create a robots.txt file if you don’t have specific pages to block from crawling. Most websites by default allow all crawling.
- A sitemap is highly recommended for all websites, especially larger ones with complex structures.
Submitting Your Sitemap:
Once you’ve created a sitemap, submit it to search engine consoles like Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools. This helps search engines discover your sitemap and improve their understanding of your website’s content.
By understanding and using robots.txt and sitemaps effectively, you can guide search engine crawlers towards the most important content on your website, potentially improving your website’s crawlability and search engine ranking.
The next lesson will explore structured data markup, a powerful SEO tool that can provide search engines with even richer information about your website content.