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    4. Robots.txt Sitemap with Relative Path

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    Robots.txt Sitemap with Relative Path

    Technical SEO
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    • MRCSearch
      MRCSearch last edited by

      Hi Everyone,

      In robots.txt, can the sitemap be indicated with a relative path? I'm trying to roll out a robots file to ~200 websites, and they all have the same relative path for a sitemap but each is hosted on its own domain.

      Basically I'm trying to avoid needing to create 200 different robots.txt files just to change the domain. If I do need to do that, though, is there an easier way than just trudging through it?

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • ClickConsult
        ClickConsult last edited by

        Hi Nicholas,

        Unfortunately not. The sitemap reference has to be absolute. (You can confirm this by using the crawler access tool within WMT's)

        I'd suggest that you create a PHP script to create a robots.txt file with the correct domain rather than having to do it manually.

        Good luck!

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 1
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