Google has taken a clear stance on unsupported fields in robots.txt files, limiting robots.txt support to four fields. This update is part of an effort to provide clear and precise guidance to website owners and developers. In this article, I will discuss in detail what these important changes mean and how they can affect your website's SEO performance.
The Importance of Robots.txt File and Google's New Approach
Robots.txt files are simple text files that instruct search engine crawlers about which pages can and cannot be crawled. For webmasters, these files are one of the main ways to control how their site is handled by search engines. However, with Google's latest update, it has become clear that only certain fields are supported and others are ignored.
Google has made it clear to its users that it does not support domains that are not listed in robots.txt documents. This is an important step to avoid misleading websites and eliminate unnecessary clutter. From now on, webmasters should focus on the fields that are clearly stated in Google's documentation, rather than relying on unsupported directives.
Supported Areas and Uses
Here are the areas that Google officially supports:
- User-agent: This field may contain instructions for a specific search engine crawler. For example, it is used to block or allow a specific crawler.
- Allow: Used to allow scanning of a specific page or directory. This can give more specific instructions when used in combination with the disallow directive.
- Disallow: Used to prevent a specific page or directory from being crawled. This is useful when you don't want certain parts of your site to be indexed by search engines.
- Sitemap: Used to specify the map of your site. This helps search engines better understand and crawl your site.
Unsupported Directives and Potential Problems
The update also clarified Google's approach to commonly used but unsupported directives. For example, directives such as "crawl-delay" are not supported by Google but may be recognized by other search engines. This suggests that webmasters should not rely on directives that Google does not recognize.
It is also noted that Google is now phasing out its support for the 'noarchive' directive. This means that webmasters should not rely on such directives in the future.
Future Steps and Best Practices
This update reminds webmasters to stay up to date with official guidelines and best practices. Using Google's documented features is critical to ensure that your website is properly crawled and indexed by search engines.
Regularly reviewing your website's robots.txt file and being aware of updates will help you optimize your SEO performance. You can learn more about robots.txt practices and best practices by consulting Google's official Search Central documentation.
All in all, these changes to Google's robots.txt policies are an important step to help webmasters manage their sites more effectively. By focusing on supported areas and staying up-to-date, you can maximize your website's search engine performance. Contact us to put your brand's SEO performance in safe hands and let DCP Crea improve your brand's search engine optimization with the most up-to-date techniques while you focus on keeping up with your increasing sales.
