The robots.txt file is the first agreement between your site and crawlers. Before allowing AI scraping, verify which directories contain public content versus those with member privacy or backend access, then configure rules by path instead of applying a single site-wide rule. A blanket approach risks exposing pages that should remain private.
Common practice is to declare different crawlers in the file. For example, allow crawling of public article directories while blocking member areas, message centers, and backend paths. The user agent name must match the identifier published by the target site exactly; a mismatch means it won't take effect. After changes, verify each entry individually.
After making changes, verify each rule individually using a crawling test tool: check if the target path is allowed or blocked, confirm the sitemap URL is accessible, and ensure no wildcard rules are blocking the entire site. Once validation passes, review crawl frequency in access logs to confirm behavior matches expectations.
Note that robots.txt is a convention, not a mandate; sensitive data must still be protected via access controls. Allowing crawling addresses accessibility only, not content quality. Pages must remain factually accurate and structurally sound to ensure stable understanding and citation.