Google Limits Robots.txt Support to Four Fields, Clarifies Stance on Unsupported Directives.

Google now officially supports only four specific fields in robots.txt. Any unsupported directives will be ignored, so it’s a good idea to audit your robots.txt files accordingly. In its latest update to the Search Central documentation, Google has reinforced its position on how unsupported fields in robots.txt will be handled.

Critical Update: Google Clarifies Robots.txt Support, Limits to Four Fields

In a recent clarification, Google emphasized that its crawlers only support the fields listed in its official robots.txt documentation. Fields not included will be ignored, reinforcing the need for website owners and developers to focus on supported directives.

Google stated:

“We sometimes get questions about fields that aren’t explicitly listed as supported, and we want to clarify that they aren’t.”

This update aims to ensure clarity and maintain reliance on supported fields.

What This Means:

• Stick to Supported Fields: Only use the explicitly mentioned in Google’s documentation.
• Review Existing Robots.txt Files: Audit your current robots.txt files to ensure they don’t contain unsupported directives.
• Understand Limitations: Google’s crawlers may not recognize Custom or third-party directives.

Supported Fields:

According to the updated documentation, Google officially supports the following fields in robots.txt:

• user-agent
• allow
• disallow
• sitemap

Notable Omissions:

Though not directly stated, this clarification suggests that Google does not support commonly used directives like crawl-delay, even though other search engines might. Additionally, Google is phasing out support for the noarchive directive.

Looking Ahead: Staying Updated with Robots.txt Best Practices

This update is a reminder to stay aligned with official guidelines and best practices. It underscores the importance of using only documented features and not assuming support for unlisted directives.

For more detailed information on robots.txt implementation, consult Google’s official Search Central documentation. If navigating these guidelines feels overwhelming, our monthly SEO packages are here to help—let the experts handle it for you!