My store is on Salla or Zid and I cannot edit robots.txt. How do I check that my product pages are not blocked by it?
Open your store address followed by /robots.txt to read the file the platform publishes. Copy its User-agent and Disallow lines into the builder's groups as they are, then type a real product path into 'Test a path'. You see at once whether it is allowed or blocked and which rule decided. If something important is blocked, contact the platform's support, since you usually cannot change the file yourself.
Why you read the file instead of writing it
On a hosted store you normally cannot reach the domain root to upload your own file, and the platform writes robots.txt for every store with general rules. We cannot tell you what your platform's file says today; that changes and differs between platforms. But you can read it at any time, because it is public. Here the Robots.txt builder is a checking tool: you retype the rules you read, then ask it about your paths.
Steps
- In your browser, open your store address followed by /robots.txt and copy its contents into a note.
- In the tool, put whatever follows the first User-agent line, such as *, into the first group's User-agent field.
- Copy that group's Disallow paths into the Disallow box, one per line, without the word Disallow itself. Do the same for any Allow lines.
- If the file has more groups for named crawlers, add a group for each with 'Add a group'.
- In 'Test a path', paste a full product URL from your store, and leave the crawler as Googlebot or change it.
Example
Suppose a store's file has one group for all crawlers blocking /cart/, /checkout/ and /search. We entered it, then tested several paths with Googlebot:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /search
- /products/oud: allowed to crawl. No rule matches, and whatever no rule covers is allowed. The * group was used because no group is named Googlebot.
- /cart/: blocked, winning rule Disallow: /cart/.
- /search?q=oud: blocked by /search, which is probably intended.
- /search-results: also blocked by the same rule, because a rule without a trailing slash matches everything that starts with it. If you have an important page whose path starts with those letters, that is worth asking about.
What the test means and what it does not
The tool never visits your store or reads the real file itself, so the result is only as accurate as what you copied. 'Allowed to crawl' does not mean the page is indexed, only that this file does not block it. The tester follows RFC 9309, and real crawlers can differ in the details, so check the search engine's webmaster tools if you want its own view. The platform's file will often point to its sitemap in a Sitemap line too, so a hosted store does not need one made with the XML sitemap generator.
Common questions
Can I upload my own robots.txt on Salla or Zid?
Usually not. Check your platform's documentation or ask its support what settings are available.
The file has a Sitemap line. Should I copy it into the tool?
Not for testing. Sitemap lines do not affect whether a path is allowed or blocked.
Does letter case matter when copying?
Yes. Copy the paths exactly, because /Cart/ does not match /cart/.