Google Highlights Importance of Page Reachability When Robots.txt Is Unreachable
Google’s Gary Illyes emphasized that when a site's robots.txt file is unreachable, the availability of other important pages like the homepage is crucial for SEO services. A discussion sparked by Carlos Sánchez Donate on LinkedIn raised the scenario of a 503 error for robots.txt lasting two months. Illyes explained that if critical pages remain accessible, the site could still perform reasonably well. However, if important pages are also unreachable, fixing the issue promptly becomes essential for maintaining visibility in search engine results.