---
title: "Edit Your robots.txt"
url: https://nexterwp.com/docs/robots-txt-editor/
date: 2026-07-17
modified: 2026-07-17
author: "Aditya Sharma"
description: "Your robots.txt file tells crawlers which parts of your site they may and may not request. Nexter SEO serves a virtual robots.txt you can edit directly from the SEO panel,..."
word_count: 383
---

# Edit Your robots.txt

Your robots.txt file tells crawlers which parts of your site they may and may not request. Nexter SEO serves a virtual robots.txt you can edit directly from the SEO panel, so you never have to touch a file over FTP.

Nexter → Content SEO → Technical → Robots.txt Editor.

 

## How To Edit Your robots.txt In Nexter SEO?

- Open **Technical** in the left-hand nav and click **Robots.txt Editor**.

- Edit the rules in the code box. A sensible default is provided.

- Click **Save** (top right).

- Use the **Open robots.txt on your website** link to view the live file, or the verify link to check its contents.

![Nexter SEO Robots.txt Editor showing the editable rules and Save button](https://nexterwp.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/nseo-11-robots-txt-editor.gif)

 

### Default Rules

The editor is prefilled with safe defaults:

`User-agent: *
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php

Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml`

- `User-agent: *` — the rules apply to all crawlers.

- `Disallow: /wp-admin/` — keeps crawlers out of the admin area.

- `Allow: /wp-admin/admin-ajax.php` — leaves the AJAX endpoint reachable, which some front-end features need.

- `Sitemap:` — points crawlers to your XML sitemap. This line is added automatically and stays in sync with the Sitemaps module.

- **Editor** — free-text rules, one directive per line, standard robots.txt syntax.

- **Open robots.txt on your website** — opens the live `/robots.txt` so you can confirm what crawlers actually see.

- **Verify link** — checks the current contents of your robots.txt.

- **Save** — stores your rules and serves them as the virtual robots.txt.

 

#### Good To Know

- **A physical robots.txt file in your site root overrides this virtual file.** If your edits do not appear on the live URL, delete the physical `robots.txt` from your site root so WordPress can serve the virtual one.

- Do not `Disallow` your whole site (`Disallow: /`) on a live site — that removes it from search.

- Blocking a URL in robots.txt is not the same as noindexing it. To keep a page out of results, use [Robots Instructions](/docs/robots-instructions/), not a Disallow.

 

#### Troubleshooting

- **My changes are not live.** A physical robots.txt is overriding the virtual one. Remove it from the site root, then reload `/robots.txt`.

- **Crawlers ignore a rule.** Check for typos and ordering; the most specific matching rule wins. Test the file in a private browser window.

**Related:** [XML Sitemaps](/docs/xml-sitemaps/) · [Robots Instructions](/docs/robots-instructions/) · [Instant Indexing](/docs/instant-indexing/)

 

[Explore Nexter Extension](https://nexterwp.com/nexter-extension/)

 

This is how you can edit your robots.txt with Nexter SEO.