How to manage the robots.txt file and sitemap automatically?

Why robots.txt and the sitemap are essential

Key points • The robots.txt file guides Google in crawling your site • The sitemap helps search engines discover your pages more quickly • Their automatic management ensures clean and consistent indexing

On a hotel website, proper management of the robots.txt file and the sitemap is essential for optimizing indexing and ensuring that your pages are well understood by Google. These two files are generated automatically, but it's important to understand their purpose and how to configure them correctly.

The robots.txt file tells search engines which parts of your site they can crawl. It is generated automatically as soon as your site is published and includes the necessary directives for standard indexing by default. You don't need to edit it manually in most cases, unless you have a specific need, such as blocking a temporary page.

The sitemap is also generated automatically. It lists all the important pages of your hotel website, including dynamic CMS pages. This file is crucial for indexing, as it helps Google discover your rooms, offers, articles, and news more quickly.

To check your sitemap, simply add /sitemap.xml to your domain (e.g., yourhotel.com/sitemap.xml). There you will see a list of pages, organized by content type. Each time you add, modify, or delete a page, the sitemap updates automatically.

💡 Tip: If you are using language variants (FR/EN), check that each language has its own sitemap or that the multilingual structure is properly integrated.

In your SEO settings, you can disable indexing for certain pages. Disabled pages will not be added to the sitemap. This is useful for: • test pages • form confirmation pages • pages reserved for internal team use

It is recommended to leave the robots.txt file set to automatic, as this prevents errors that could block your entire SEO strategy. A single incorrect line in this file could prevent Google from accessing your room pages, offers, or blog.

To monitor your indexing status, use Google Search Console. Submit your sitemap via the dedicated tool, which speeds up the crawling process. Search Console will also alert you if a page is blocked by robots.txt or is missing from the sitemap.

Finally, remember to regularly check your CMS pages. If a page is not published, is filtered, or is poorly structured, it may be excluded from the sitemap. This can explain why some pages—rooms, offers, or news—take time to be indexed.

Conclusion

Automatic management of the robots.txt file and sitemap allows you to maintain a clear, indexable, and technically optimized hotel website. By leaving the default settings and regularly checking your indexing, you ensure maximum visibility in Google.