Creating a `robots.txt` file for your BlogSpot blog helps control how search engines crawl and index your site. Here’s a step-by-step guide to creating and configuring a `robots.txt` file for your BlogSpot blog:
Default Blogger `robots.txt`
By default, Blogger generates a basic `robots.txt` file for your blog. You can view it by going to.
```
http://enteryoursite.blogspot.com/robots.txt
```
This is a typical default `robots.txt` for a BlogSpot blog of gojist:
Example
```
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /
Sitemap: http://gojist.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
```
Customizing Your `robots.txt`
If you want to customize your `robots.txt`, you can do so through the Blogger dashboard.
Here’s how:
1. Go to Blogger Dashboard:
Sign in to Blogger and go to the dashboard for your blog.
2. Navigate to Settings:
In the left-hand menu, click on `Settings`.
3. Search Preferences:
Under `Settings`, find the `Crawlers and indexing` section.
4. Enable Custom `robots.txt:
- Find the `Custom robots.txt` option and turn it on.
5. Edit Custom `robots.txt:
Click on `Custom robots.txt` and a text box will appear where you can enter your custom rules.
Example Custom `robots.txt` for BlogSpot
Here’s an example of a custom `robots.txt` file for a BlogSpot blog of http://gojist.blogspot.com.
```
User-agent: Mediapartners-Google
Disallow:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /search
Allow: /
Sitemap: http://gojist.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml
```
Explanation of Directives
- `User-agent: Mediapartners-Google` - This allows Google AdSense to crawl your site.
- `User-agent: *` - This applies to all web crawlers.
- `Disallow: /search` - This prevents crawlers from indexing your blog's search pages, which can prevent duplicate content issues.
- `Allow: /` - This allows crawlers to access all other content.
- `Sitemap: http://gojist.blogspot.com/sitemap.xml` -
This specifies the location of your sitemap.
Save Your Changes
After entering your custom `robots.txt` content, save your changes. Your custom `robots.txt` will now control how search engines interact with your BlogSpot blog.
By following these steps, you can create and customize a `robots.txt` file for your BlogSpot blog to optimize how search engines crawl and index your site.