The key differences between robots.txt and X-Robots-Tag HTTP headers lie in their purpose, scope, and how they control crawler behavior:
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robots.txt is a file placed at the root of a website that instructs crawlers which URLs or paths they are allowed or disallowed to crawl. It prevents crawlers from requesting certain resources, effectively blocking access before the content is fetched. However, it does not control whether the content is indexed if crawled by other means or linked externally.
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X-Robots-Tag is an HTTP response header that controls how crawlers index or display a resource after it has been fetched. It can specify directives like
noindexornofollowfor any type of file (HTML, PDF, images, etc.), instructing crawlers whether to index or follow links on that resource. Unlike robots.txt, it does not prevent crawling but controls indexing and search result behaviour.
Additional distinctions include:
| Aspect | robots.txt | X-Robots-Tag HTTP Header |
|---|---|---|
| Control level | Controls crawling (access to URLs) | Controls indexing and link following |
| Applied to | URLs or URL patterns | HTTP responses for any file type |
| Implementation | Text file at website root | Server-side HTTP header configuration |
| Effect on bandwidth | Saves bandwidth by blocking requests | Does not prevent crawling, so bandwidth used |
| File types covered | Any URL but only controls crawling | Any file type (HTML, images, PDFs, etc.) |
| Ease of use | Simple to implement | Requires server or code configuration |
| Indexing control | Indirect (cannot guarantee no indexing) | Direct control over indexing (e.g., noindex) |
In summary, robots.txt is best for preventing crawlers from accessing certain parts of a site to save bandwidth or hide content, while X-Robots-Tag is better for controlling how fetched content is indexed or displayed in search results, especially for non-HTML files. Both methods complement each other but serve distinct roles in crawler management.
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