Robots.txt Visual Analyzer

Build and debug robots.txt with clarity

The Robots.txt Visual Analyzer from FreeAiToolsOnline.com helps site owners, SEOs, and developers parse, validate, and test robots.txt files in seconds. Paste a robots.txt, upload one, or try fetching from a domain, then see a clean summary of user-agents, Allow and Disallow paths, crawl-delay, sitemap directives, and any syntax warnings. A built-in URL tester shows whether a specific path would be allowed or blocked for a chosen user-agent based on standard evaluation rules.

A well configured robots.txt prevents accidental blocking of important pages, reduces server load, and gives search engines clear guidance. However, small mistakes like stray wildcards, trailing spaces, or overlapping rules can cause unexpected indexing issues. This analyzer highlights rule conflicts, duplicate directives, unsupported lines, and potential risk areas so you can correct them before they impact crawl and index health.

What this tool does

• Parses user-agent sections and groups them for quick review.

• Extracts Allow, Disallow, Crawl-delay, Sitemap, and Host directives.

• Flags unknown or malformed lines to help you fix errors.

• Tests a path against the selected user-agent using longest-match logic.

• Visualizes conflicts when both Allow and Disallow could apply.

• Generates a shareable state URL so teams can review the same analysis.

• Works 100 percent in the browser for privacy and speed.

Why it matters for SEO

Robots.txt is often the first file a crawler checks. One misplaced slash can block an entire content section or media folder. With this analyzer you can safely validate updates before deployment, confirm that critical pages remain crawlable, and document decisions for teams. It is ideal for migrations, CMS changes, language folder rollouts, and performance tuning where bot traffic control is part of the plan.

How to use it

1. Paste your robots.txt or enter a domain to attempt a fetch.

2. Review the parsed sections and warnings.

3. Pick a user-agent and test any URL path to see Allow or Disallow results.

4. Export a JSON or text report, print to PDF, or share a link with the embedded state.

Evaluation model used

The tester applies a simple, practical model aligned with common crawler behavior:

• The most specific user-agent group is chosen first; if none match, the wildcard user-agent is used.

• Among matching rules, the longest path match wins.

• If Allow and Disallow both match with the same length, Allow takes precedence.

• Crawl-delay is shown but treated as informational.

• Unknown directives are surfaced as warnings for manual review.

This model mirrors what many teams expect when sanity-checking rules and helps avoid surprises during audits.

Who will benefit

• Technical SEO specialists validating changes before release.

• Developers configuring headless CMS folders and static builds.

• Product teams planning A/B tests that shift URL structures.

• Publishers and ecommerce managers optimizing bot access to media and feeds.

Privacy and performance

All parsing and testing happen locally in your browser. No server processing or storage is involved. You remain in full control of your data.

FAQs

1) Can this tool fetch robots.txt from any domain?
It tries, but some domains block cross-origin fetches. If fetch fails, paste robots.txt in the editor or upload a file.

2) Which user-agents are recognized?
Any string is accepted. Common presets include Googlebot, Googlebot-Image, Bingbot, and wildcard. You can add your own.

3) How accurate is the allow or disallow decision?
It uses longest-match evaluation with Allow overriding equal Disallow length. This aligns with widely documented behavior and is sufficient for audits.

4) Does it support wildcards and end anchors?
Yes. Asterisk and dollar end anchors are supported for path matching in tests.

5) What about Host or Crawl-delay directives?
They are surfaced in the summary. Crawl-delay is advisory and varies by crawler support.

6) Will this fix my robots.txt automatically?
It does not rewrite files, but it highlights issues and provides a clean, exportable report for teams.

7) Can I share my analysis with others?
Yes. Use Share to copy a URL containing your current state. Teammates can open the same configuration.

8) Is anything uploaded or logged?
No. Everything runs client-side.

9) Can I print to PDF for documentation?
Yes. Use Print to get a clean PDF with summary and results.

10) Does it check sitemap URLs?
It lists them and validates their URL format. Fetching sitemap content is not performed.