What are some best practices for using robots.txt and meta tags for SEO crawling?

I'd like everyone reading this to be extremely careful with your website's robots.txt file. Robots.txt are directives to search engine crawlers, meaning most search engines (including Google) obey precisely what is in the file. With one small mistake, you can accidentally block search engines from accessing your site, which is detrimental to SEO. Every site is different, and a professional SEO should be consulted before crafting your robots.txt file, but in general, I suggest smaller websites take a simple "allow all crawling" approach. Larger sites and e-commerce sites, on the other hand, should carefully craft their robots.txt file.

robots.txt is a text file used by websites to communicate with web crawlers or "robots," particularly search engine bots like Googlebot

Robots.txt provides suggestions more than directives. If thousands of websites link your website, and you've told search engines not to crawl the page, the page will likely still appear within the search results, but with a message stating why more infor about the URL is not available. As a best practice, put non-important files behind a login gate, don't just try to block it with the robots.txt. Common cases to block may include: 1. A section of your site you do not want to be found, such as eBooks. 2. Redundant or similar sales pages you are testing with paid ads. 3.Pages that aren't useful to visitors but need to be on the website for some reason other than marketing. 4. Redundant URLs, such as those with a /print in the file name

Know that crawling and indexing are different things. Robots.txt is to control crawling - when Google or other search engines crawl from link to link to find all of your content. Meta Robots tags can control indexation, like the classic NOINDEX tag. Indexation is after Google already crawls the page, and then decides what to do with it. The biggest mistake by far is sites trying to remove content by adding both a Robots.txt and Meta Robots tag. The problem is that once you block Google from crawling (Robots.txt) it can no longer "see" the Meta Robots tag. And it won't remove your page from it's index. Because the last time you let Google crawl your page it said it's OK to index.

Robots.txt is the equivalent of a "VIP Club guest list." It is like your website super-secret rulebook for search engine bots. Robots.txt functions as the bouncer at the entrance to a website, informing search engines about which parts of the site are off-limits and which are open for exploration. In short, robots.txt acts as your website guardian, determining who is allowed in and who is kept out, ensuring that your online privacy is as secure as a bank vault. Here is an example of what a robots.txt file typically looks like: User-agent: * Disallow: /private/ Allow: /public/ In this example, it instructs all search engine bots (user-agent: *) to avoid accessing the /private/ area, but they are free to explore the /public/ spaces.

Meta tags in SEO are concealed HTML elements that convey crucial information about a web page's content to both search engines and users. Among these, the most pivotal are: 1) Title Tag: This tag defines the page's title, visible as the clickable link in search results. 2) Meta Description Tag: It offers a succinct summary of the page's content, impacting click-through rates. 3) Meta Robots Tag: This tag directs how search engines index and present the page. 4) Meta Canonical Tag: It aids in avoiding issues related to duplicate content. 5) Meta Viewport Tag: This tag ensures proper presentation on mobile devices. 6) Meta Open Graph Tags: These tags influence how content appears on social media when shared.

Meta tags contain information not seen by the user on the page. That can be seen within search and social media results. Common meta tags include: 1. HTML Title - the blue links you see in Google. 2. Description - the black text under the title. 3. Robots - tells the search engines whether to index or follow links on the page, and can also influence search appearance. 4. Canonical - tells the search engines which version of similar pages to index. 5. Charset - tells the browser which character encoding to use when translating machine code into human-readable text. 6. Generator - identifies the software used to publish the page (such as WordPress). Here is a list of meta tags via Github: https://gist.github.com/whitingx/3840905

Meta tags are like the cover of a book; they provide a brief summary of what's inside and what you can expect when you open it.

Meta tags are HTML elements that provide information about a web page's content to search engines and website visitors. These tags are placed in the head section of an HTML document and are not visible on the actual web page.

Meta tags are HTML elements used to provide information about a webpage. They are crucial for on-page SEO and help search engines understand and categorize your content.

Utilizing robots.txt for SEO is akin to providing traffic signs on your website's digital highway for search engines. Just as you'd navigate through roads with a GPS, robots.txt guides search engine bots efficiently while respecting your privacy boundaries. Here's how: 1) Create a 'robots.txt' file in your website's main folder. 2)Understand 'User Agents,' like diverse drivers such as Google, Bing, and more. You can address all with '*', or specify a particular agent. 3)Use 'Disallow' to block access and 'Allow' to permit it. 4)Don't forget to include your sitemap to enhance crawling. 5)Regularly update your robots.txt 6)Test and validate its effectiveness using GSC. 7)Always double-check for any errors or misconfigurations.

All websites are different, and robots.txt files should never be blindly copy/pasted. That being said, here are some examples of robots.txt files and what they mean User-agent: * Disallow: This robots.txt file is addressing all (*) user-agents, and has nothing disallowed. This means that all search engines and crawlers can access all parts of their website. User-agent: * Disallow: /search* User-agent: Twitterbot Disallow: / This robots.txt file is telling all crawlers not to crawl URLs that end in "/search[+ anything after]". It is also disallowing all crawling from twitterbot, meaning Twitter is not allowed to crawl the website at all.

Using robots.txt for SEO is like traffic signs for search engines on your website's highway. - First create a robots.txt File: Make a file named "robots.txt" in your site's main folder. - Understand User Agents: User agents are like different drivers (Google, Bing, etc.). Use '*' to address all or specify a particular agent. - Use "Disallow" to block and "Allow" to permit. - Include Sitemap - Keep It Updated - Test with Google Search Console - Check for any mistakes Robots.txt is like your GPS for search engines, guiding them efficiently through your site while respecting your privacy boundaries.

The Allow directive allows URLs to be crawled. Thus, it does a partial cancellation of the prohibition set by the Disallow directive. User-agent: * Disallow: /catalog/ Allow: /catalog/product1/ You can add a "Crawl-delay" directive to make a delay between crawl requests to your site. It should be noted that some search engines do not support the Crawl-delay directive. Crawl-delay: 10 It is recommended to add a Sitemap directive to tell search engines which URLs to index. Sitemap: https://yourdomain/sitemap.xml This is a cross section directive so it can only be used once regardless of the number of User-Agent sections.

* = "match any sequence of chars" - Wildcard Block All Search Engine Crawlers: User-agent: * Disallow: / This example disallows all search engine bots from crawling any part of the website. Allow All Crawling: User-agent: * Disallow: This example allows all search engine bots to crawl the entire website without any restrictions. Block Googlebot from a Specific Directory: User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /private/

A page's Title and meta description are the most important and visible meta tags in Search Engine Results and should be treated as such. I'd like to counter some points made by AI in this section: 1. Page Titles should certainly be concise and relevant, but using Brand names in all page titles is a waste of precious SERP real estate. I suggest limiting Brand name usage in title tags to a few key pages such as Home, About Us and Contact Us pages. Long brand names may take up more than half the char limit, reducing chances of SEO optimising the title. E.g.: Low-Cost Transportation | The Boring Company - Brand name takes up half the Title 2. Please don't use meta keyword tags - They have no impact on rankings and are not used by Google.

"noindex" and "index" are instructions to search engines: - "Index" means displaying the page in search results. - "Noindex" means exclude the page from search results. These directives determine where your page appears in the search engine's library of web content.

I would say that using meta tags for SEO indexing involves optimizing them to provide valuable information to search engines and improve the chances of your web pages getting indexed properly.

"noindex" and "index" are directives used in meta tags and other HTML elements to instruct search engines on how to handle a specific web page. They are essential for controlling whether a page should be indexed in search engine results or not. By default, most web pages are set to be indexed. If a page doesn't have a meta tag specifying "noindex," search engines will include it in their index and display it in search results.

If you want a web page to be removed from Google index, set it to "noindex", but do not block it in robots.txt. If you block it in robots.txt, Google will not be able to access it and find that "noindex" tag.

Some of the points made in this AI-generated section are inaccurate: 1. Google Analytics (GA) cannot be used for crawling and indexing your site. It is an analytics tool that tracks and reports website traffic and conversions. 2. Google Search Console (GSC) is not an SEO testing tool. It is a diagnostic tool that can help you monitor and improve your site's crawling, indexation and overall performance in search. To improve SEO crawling and indexation: - Set a weekly frequency to check your GSC Page Indexing Report (GSC >Indexing > Pages). Review and troubleshoot why some pages aren't getting indexed. - Also, review your XML Sitemap periodically to ensure you've added/updated key pages that you'd like Google to find and crawl.

Monitoring and enhancing SEO crawling and indexing is like taking care of a digital garden. Based on my experience, here's a step to maintain in your SEO process: 1. Regularly Check Your Sitemap 2. Optimize Robots.txt 3. Analyze Crawl Errors 4. Keyword Research and Placement 5. Quality Content Creation 6. Mobile-Friendly Design 7. Page Speed Optimization 8. Internal Linking 9. Monitor Backlinks 10. Stay Informed By implementing these steps, you'll be tending to your digital garden, ensuring it's well-crawled, and thriving in search engine results.

Generally, an "always on" tool like ContentKing is really helpful as it will automatically flag if the status of a page changes. So if something becomes non-crawlable, or non-indexable, you'll get a notification. This can save you from big issues if mistakes are made during deployments.

Crawl Budget Optimzation SHOULD be only applicable if your project exceeds 1 Million pages There are plenty of exceptions tho. Ensure that your website's structure is logical and easy to navigate. Use clear categories and a well-organized hierarchy. This makes it easier for search engine bots to find and crawl your content.