Internal Blocked by Robots.txt

Description

These internal links point to pages that are blocked from search engine crawling by your robots.txt file.

How to Fix

Review your robots.txt file and determine if these pages should actually be blocked. If they should be indexed: 1) Update your robots.txt to allow crawling of these URLs, 2) Wait for search engines to recrawl your site. If they should remain blocked, consider removing links to them from indexable pages.

Detailed Analysis

Internal Blocked by Robots.txt: Detailed Explanation

1. What Causes This Issue

The issue of internal links pointing to pages blocked by the robots.txt file arises when your website's internal linking structure includes links to pages that are disallowed from being crawled by search engines. This is controlled by the robots.txt file, which resides in the root directory of your website and provides instructions to search engine crawlers on which pages or sections of the site should not be accessed.

Common causes include:

• Misconfiguration of the robots.txt file: Pages that should be accessible to crawlers are inadvertently blocked.
• Site architecture changes: Updates to the website structure that are not accompanied by corresponding updates to the robots.txt file.
• Development oversight: Pages created for internal use or testing are linked internally but not intended for search engine indexing.
• Inconsistent SEO strategy: Lack of alignment between SEO objectives and the configurations in the robots.txt file.

2. Why It's Important

• SEO Impact: When internal links point to pages blocked by robots.txt, it disrupts the flow of PageRank and link equity throughout the site. This can lead to a decrease in the overall authority and visibility of the website in search engine results.
• User Experience: Users navigating the site might come across broken links or encounter pages that appear in search results but are inaccessible.
• Site Efficiency: Search engines waste crawl budget on links that lead to blocked pages, which could otherwise be spent on more important areas of your site.

3. Best Practices to Prevent It

• Regularly Review and Update robots.txt: Ensure that the robots.txt file is periodically reviewed and updated to reflect any changes in site architecture or strategy.
• Strategic Internal Linking: Routinely audit internal links to ensure that they point to intended pages, especially after any site changes.
• Coordinate with Development: Maintain clear communication between SEO and development teams to ensure changes are well-documented and reflected in the robots.txt.
• Test Before Deployment: Before launching new sections or changing site architecture, test the configurations in a staging environment.
• Use Robots Meta Tags: Where applicable, consider using noindex meta tags for finer control over what pages are indexed without blocking crawler access entirely.

4. Examples of Good and Bad Cases

Good Case:

• E-commerce Site: An e-commerce site has a robots.txt file allowing all product pages to be crawled but blocks pages like cart, account login, and admin pages. Internal links only point to accessible pages, ensuring a smooth flow of link equity.
  • robots.txt snippet:

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /cart/
    Disallow: /account/
    Disallow: /admin/

Bad Case:

• Blog Site: A blog has a section of high-quality articles linked from the homepage, but the robots.txt file inadvertently blocks the entire directory containing these articles.
  • Problematic robots.txt snippet:

    User-agent: *
    Disallow: /articles/

  • This configuration prevents search engines from crawling valuable content, impacting visibility and traffic.

By following these guidelines and regularly auditing the robots.txt file and internal links, you can maintain a healthy SEO profile and ensure that your website's valuable content is both accessible and effectively indexed by search engines.