# SEO - Robots.txt **URL:** \ **Category:** Elements\ **Created:** [December 5, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035 "2025-12-05T17:33:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 5:33pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035/1 "2025-12-05T17:33:14Z")
I’m guessing it’s good practice to turn these all off when developing a site or renewing a site Q1 Could there be a master all off whilst in development checkbox Q2 Google says no Robots.txt file exists for my site … is this necessary - if so - why don’t we produce one ? Q3 Should we also provide a maintenance mode option like you have in WP .. for when you are updating / tinkering ? ![image](https://europe1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/uploads/realmacsoftware1/original/3X/8/8/88c71b97da812621c5db79e4ca7968e8ef37f2f4.png) ---
**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 5:44pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035/2 "2025-12-05T17:44:45Z")
You have a robots.txt file here: [https://www.peteryates.co.uk/robots.txt](https://www.peteryates.co.uk/robots.txt) It’s being generated by that [www.seoptimer.com](http://www.seoptimer.com) service, not by Elements. Regarding maintenance mode, you can throw up an “Under Construction” home page temporarily. Elements is a static site generator (not dynamic with a database like WP), so a full on maintenance mode module seems a bit much. ---
**Author:** ![dan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/dan/32/28516_2.png) [@dan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/dan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 5:45pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035/3 "2025-12-05T17:45:16Z")
> [@jbob](#): > > I’m guessing it’s good practice to turn these all off when developing a site or renewing a site Why would you switch these off? > [@jbob](#): > > Q3 Should we also provide a maintenance mode option like you have in WP .. for when you are updating / tinkering ? A robots.txt file is optional. Not having one is completely normal. It only becomes “necessary” if you actually want to _disallow_ something. If the feature is needed later, Elements can generate one. > [@jbob](#): > > Q2 Google says no Robots.txt file exists for my site … is this necessary - if so - why don’t we produce one ? It’s not really a good idea to switch all of this off during development. Search engines aren’t going to index a half-built site unless you’ve already published the URL somewhere, and even then it’s rare they’ll crawl it immediately. Blocking everything just adds extra moving parts for no real gain. ---
**Author:** ![jbob](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/jbob/32/31581_2.png) [@jbob](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/jbob)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 5:49pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035/4 "2025-12-05T17:49:12Z")
OK - my thinking … is that I’m reviewing my website … and whilst I do, it’s called xx/2026 - I’m don’t really want that being indexed until it’s ready (do I?) … When ready it will replace the old site at [www.ODEChair.com](http://www.ODEChair.com) Looking for good practice ---
**Author:** ![differentdan](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex005/user_avatar/forums.realmacsoftware.com/differentdan/32/33530_2.png) [@differentdan](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/u/differentdan)\ **Post date:** [December 5, 2025, 5:58pm UTC](https://forums.realmacsoftware.com/t/seo-robots-txt/53035/5 "2025-12-05T17:58:55Z")
You could password protect the site during development, generally reputable search engine crawlers can’t get past that for indexing. 🙂