Fix robots.txt 404

If robots.txt returns 404, crawlers assume no restrictions. But it's better to have one with Allow: / and Sitemap.

Common causes

  • File doesn't exist.
  • Wrong path (e.g. /robots.txt in subdir).
  • Server returns 404 for /robots.txt.

How to fix

  1. Create robots.txt at https://yoursite.com/robots.txt.
  2. Include at least User-agent: * and Allow: /.
  3. Add Sitemap directive. Verify with AI Bot Access Checker.