Google Revamps Webmaster Tools Robots.txt Tester Tool

Jul 17, 2014 - 7:45 am 1 by

Google Webmaster ToolsGoogle announced that they've updated the Robots.txt tester tool within Google Webmaster Tools.

The tool adds three things:

(1) Highlights which line in your robots.txt file is blocking a specific page.

(2) Make test changes to the robots.txt tool and test it before you make the file live.

(3) Google will also show you older versions of your robots.txt file to see past issues.

Here is a test showing you how it highlights the single story I block from search engines on this site:

click for full size

This a view of the history of my robots.txt file:

Google Robots.txt Tester Tool History

Google also issues a subtle hint to try the fetch and render tool again and stop blocking stuff from Google.

Forum discussion at Google+.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
- YouTube
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: February 18, 2025

Feb 18, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: There Is No Persistent Shortcut To Faster Crawling

Feb 18, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Search Testing Background Section

Feb 18, 2025 - 7:41 am
Google Ads

Google Ads Advanced Plans

Feb 18, 2025 - 7:31 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests Knowledge Panels With Related Searches Box

Feb 18, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google

Google Search Testing New Pagination Bar Without Numbers

Feb 18, 2025 - 7:11 am
Previous Story: Google's Matt Cutts Was A Passenger In A Self Driving Car