How to Block Spam Domains in Robots.txt: A Friendly Guide

Hello friends! Are you also troubled by unwanted spam domains on your website? Do you want your website to get rid of these unwanted visitors? Don’t worry, today I am going to tell you about a technique that will solve your problem – blocking spam domains using robots.txt file.

What The Heck is robots.txt?

Imagine that one of your house has a door, & you can choose who can come in the house and who cannot. Likewise, robots.txt is a file that acts like a caretaker at the entrance of your website. It communicates search engine bots and crawlers which parts of your site they can see and which they cannot.

Identify Spam Domains

Let us first understand how to identify spam domains:

1.       Check your website analytics

2.       Check server logs

3.       Identify referrer spam

4.       Make a list of unwanted backlinks

Steps to block spam domains in robots.txt

Step 1: Find or create a robots.txt file

Your robots.txt file should always be in the root directory of your website. For example:

www.yourwebsite.com/robots.txt

If this file does not exist, you can create a new text file and save it with the name 'robots.txt'.

Step 2: Block spam domains

Now let's see how to block spam domains in robots.txt. Here are some examples:

# Block spam bots

User-agent: BadBot

Disallow: /

User-agent: SpamCrawler

Disallow: /

# Block referrals from spam domains

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

From: spam-domain.com

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

From: another-spam-domain.com

Step 3: Use wildcards for comprehensive protection

Sometimes the same spammer has multiple subdomains. In such a case you can use wildcards:

User-agent: *

Disallow: /

From: *.spam-domain.com

Precautions and Important Tips

1.       Keep a backup: Before making any changes in robots.txt, keep a backup of the old file.

2.       Do regular testing: Check your robots.txt file every month and see if the blocking is working properly.

3.       Take care of correct syntax: Even a small mistake can make your entire robots.txt file ineffective.

4.       Don't stop legitimate bots: Take care not to stop bots of search engines like Google, Bing.

Additional security measures

Robots.txt alone is not enough. You can also take these additional measures along with it:

1.       Web server configuration: Block spam domains in Apache or Nginx.

2.       Firewall rules: Use WAF (Web Application Firewall).

3.       Monitoring tools: Use tools to monitor spam traffic.

Troubleshooting

If you think your robots.txt is not working correctly, check these points:

1.       The file name is correct (robots.txt, all lowercase)

2.       The file is in the root directory

3.       The syntax is correct

4.       The file is being served correctly from the server

Some common mistakes to avoid

1.       Overconfidence: Don’t block all bots

2.       Incomplete information: Not keeping a complete list of spam domains

3.       Irregular updates: Forgetting to update robots.txt

4.       Incorrect syntax: Typos or incorrect formatting

Conclusion

Blocking spam domains is an ongoing process. You have to constantly monitor your website and keep updating robots.txt. Remember, security is never a one-time action, but a continuous process.

If you follow all these instructions, your website will be largely protected from spam domains. But remember, technology is constantly changing, and spammers are also finding new ways. So stay updated and keep yourself informed about new security techniques.

Way Forward

Now that you have learned how to block spam domains in robots.txt, use this knowledge and make your website secure. Remember, small precautions can prevent big problems.

Best wishes to your website to stay spam-free and safe!