Start with search evidence
Google's robots.txt documentation frames robots rules as crawler request guidance, which makes them a practical way to turn crawl boundaries into a file-level policy.
Separate daily issues, evergreen pages, resource indexes, test paths, APIs, and parameter URLs instead of relying on a generic default robots file.
Visibility is not demand
The useful question is not whether the page appeared somewhere; it is whether the search term, page promise, and next action fit the same reader job.
Check the page path
- List URL types as public indexable, public but low priority, tests, API paths, parameter pages, and blocked surfaces
- Keep the test narrow: one low-risk task or tool entry before connecting permissions, logs, failure handling, and human takeover to production
What still needs proof
Unclear rules waste crawl attention and can pull low-value paths into search interpretation. Keep the original source open so the announcement, the evidence, and this site's interpretation stay separate.