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Guide · Websites · 7 min read · Updated 2026-08-08

Technical SEO Basics: robots.txt, XML Sitemaps, and Canonical Tags

If crawlers cannot find or trust the preferred URL, content quality never gets a chance to rank.

robots.txt

Publish https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt. Allow important marketing and product paths. Disallow only what must stay private.

Include a Sitemap: line pointing at your XML sitemap. Re-check after every WAF or bot-fight change — Attack Mode can block auditors and Googlebot alike.

XML sitemap & canonicals

List canonical HTTPS URLs that return 200. Keep lastmod honest. Submit in Google Search Console and Bing Webmaster Tools.

Every indexable page should declare a preferred absolute HTTPS URL with a canonical link element.

Run this on your site

AuditHQ schedules website measurements, a deep security scan and Production readiness checklist on your own URL, waterfalls, screenshots, competitor scores, and ranked fixes.

robots.txtXML sitemapcanonical tagstechnical SEOGoogle Search Console sitemap