AI Crawler and SEO Manager by akbansa vs Better Robots.txt – AI-Ready Crawl Control & Bot Governance

The AI Crawler and SEO Manager by akbansa plugin generates an llms.txt file for crawler discovery and logs visits by AI-based crawlers such as GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and others. It also provides an analytics page in the WordPress admin dashboard to view crawler activity by path, URL, and timestamp. Key Features: Generates llms.txt file for crawler discovery. Removes llms.txt on plugin uninstall Schedules automatic generation of llms.txt daily at midnight (frequency configurable: daily, twice daily, hourly) Uses atomic file writes for llms.txt and sitemap.xml for safety Integrates with Yoast SEO, Rank Math, or All in One SEO for metadata (falls back to DB if not present) Admin panel to select/exclude categories and content types for llms.txt Logs every AI crawler request from the frontend (user agent, crawl info, page URL, IP, referrer) Filters crawlers using config.json and stores all details in a dedicated DB table Analytics dashboard in admin to view recent crawler activity Robust AJAX security and error handling Detects and logs visits from AI crawlers based on their User-Agent. Stores crawler logs in a database for analysis. Supports popular AI-based crawlers (e.g., OpenAI, Anthropic, GPTBot, etc.). Option to customize the list of crawlers via a config.json file. Short Description Advanced AI-powered SEO and analytics for WordPress. Generates llms.txt for AI crawler discovery, logs AI bot visits, and provides comprehensive analytics dashboard. Usage After activation, the plugin will automatically start generating the llms.txt file and log visits from AI-based crawlers. The crawler logs are stored in the database for analysis. You can view analytics by navigating to LLMS Crawlers in the WordPress admin menu. Admin Analytics The admin panel will display a list of the most recent crawler visits, showing the following information: – Path – URL – Crawler Name – Timestamp Support If you encounter any issues, please feel free to reach out via the plugin support page or create an issue on the GitHub repository. License This plugin is licensed under the GPLv2 or later. New Features Admin Settings Filter: You can now filter active pages, products, categories, and posts for generating the llms.txt. Sitemap Handling: If a sitemap.xml exists, it will be used to get the list of pages. If not, the database will be used as a fallback. SEO Plugin Integration: The plugin integrates with Yoast SEO, All in One SEO, and Rank Math to fetch metadata for the llms.txt file. Frequency Setting: You can choose the frequency for regenerating the llms.txt file (daily, weekly, monthly, hourly). Traffic Capture and AI Agent Logging: A front-end script captures traffic, sends it to the backend, and logs AI agents based on a config.json file. Sitemap Update: The sitemap.xml is automatically updated with the absolute path to the llms.txt and the updated timestamp.

Better Robots.txt replaces the default WordPress robots.txt workflow with a smarter, structured version you can configure and preview before publishing. Instead of a blank textarea, you get a guided wizard with presets, plain-language explanations, and a final Review & Save step so you can inspect the generated robots.txt before it goes live. Built for beginners and advanced users alike, Better Robots.txt helps you control how search engines, AI crawlers, SEO tools, archive bots, bad bots, social preview bots, and other automated agents interact with your site. Trusted by thousands of WordPress sites, Better Robots.txt is designed for the AI era without resorting to hype, vague promises, or hidden rules. Better Robots.txt is available in Free, Pro, and Premium editions. The free plugin covers the guided workflow and essential crawl control features, while Pro and Premium unlock additional governance, protection, and AI-ready modules. Some screenshots on the plugin page show features from all three editions. A quick overview Why Better Robots.txt is different Most robots.txt plugins fall into one of three categories: Simple text editor Virtual robots.txt manager Single-purpose AI or policy add-on Better Robots.txt goes further. It gives you a complete, guided crawl control workflow so you can: Choose a preset that matches your goals Control major crawler categories without writing everything by hand Keep core WordPress protection rules visible and editable Clean up low-value crawl paths that waste crawl budget Generate a cleaner robots.txt output Preview the final result before saving What you can control Better Robots.txt helps you manage: Search engine visibility AI and LLM crawler behavior AI usage signals such as search, ai-input, and ai-train preferences SEO tool crawlers Bad bots and abusive crawlers Archive and Wayback access Feed crawlers and crawl traps WooCommerce crawl cleanup CSS, JavaScript, and image crawling rules Social media preview crawlers ads.txt and app-ads.txt allowance llms.txt generation Advanced directives such as crawl-delay and custom rules Final review before publishing Editions Better Robots.txt is available in three editions: Free – Includes the guided setup, the Essential preset, core crawl control features, and the final Review & Save workflow. Pro – Adds more advanced governance and protection modules, including additional AI, crawler, and cleanup controls. Premium – Unlocks the most restrictive and advanced protection options, including the Fortress preset and additional high-control modules. Some options shown in the interface are marked Free, Pro, or Premium so users can immediately understand which modules belong to each edition. Presets Setup starts with four modes: Essential – A clean, practical configuration for most websites that want a better robots.txt without complexity. AI-First – For publishers and content sites that want AI-ready governance without shutting down discovery. Fortress – For websites that want stronger protection against scraping, archive capture, and unnecessary crawl activity. Custom – For users who prefer to configure each module manually. For many sites, one preset plus a quick review is enough. Built for beginners and experts Beginners get: A guided setup instead of a raw robots.txt box Preset-based configuration Plain-language explanations for important choices A safer workflow with a final preview step Advanced users get: Editable core WordPress protection rules Fine-grained crawler controls by category WooCommerce-oriented cleanup options Consolidated output options Advanced directives and custom rules A final output they can inspect before publishing AI-ready, without hype Better Robots.txt includes features for modern AI-related crawl governance, including: AI crawler handling Optional llms.txt support AI usage signals for compliant systems Optional machine-readable governance signals for advanced use cases These features help you express how you want automated systems to use your content. However, Better Robots.txt does not claim to control AI by force. Like robots.txt itself, these signals are most useful with compliant systems and good-faith crawlers. What Better Robots.txt is Better Robots.txt is: A robots.txt governance plugin for WordPress A guided configuration workflow instead of a raw text editor A crawl control layer to reduce wasteful crawling A practical bridge between SEO, crawl hygiene, and AI-era policy signaling A way to keep your crawl policy clearer for humans and machines Technical reference for advanced users: Better Robots.txt also maintains a public GitHub repository with product definition, governance notes, and machine-readable artefacts. What Better Robots.txt is not Better Robots.txt is not: A firewall or Web Application Firewall (WAF) An anti-scraping enforcement engine A legal compliance engine A guarantee that every bot will obey your rules A replacement for server-level security or access control It helps you publish a clearer crawl policy. It does not replace infrastructure-level protection. Typical use cases Use Better Robots.txt if you want to: Clean up a weak or noisy default robots.txt Reduce crawl waste on WordPress or WooCommerce Keep major search engines allowed while restricting other bots Control whether archive bots can snapshot your site Publish AI usage preferences more clearly Keep social preview bots allowed while limiting scrapers Review the final file before making it live Key Features Guided step-by-step wizard Preset-based setup: Essential, AI-First, Fortress, Custom Search engine visibility controls AI and LLM crawler governance AI usage signals support SEO tool crawler controls Bad bot and abusive crawler options Archive and Wayback access controls Spam, feed, and crawl trap cleanup WooCommerce crawl cleanup options CSS, JavaScript, and image crawling rules Social media preview crawler controls ads.txt and app-ads.txt allowance Optional llms.txt generation Consolidated output option Core WordPress protection rules remain visible and editable Final Review & Save preview screen About the publisher Better Robots.txt is developed and maintained by Pagup, a digital readability firm based in Quebec, Canada. Pagup helps organizations become correctly understood by search engines, generative AI systems, and autonomous agents. The robots.txt file is the first surface that AI crawlers read when they discover a site. A well-structured robots.txt that references governance files such as llms.txt, ai-manifest.json, and interpretation policies helps AI systems understand your site faster and more accurately. Better Robots.txt is one component of a broader digital readability practice that includes semantic content architecture, AI governance and machine readability, and interpretive SEO. Part of the Pagup ecosystem pagup.com — Digital readability firm. Diagnostic, semantic architecture, AI governance. gautierdorval.com — Doctrine, canonical definitions, interpretive governance research. interpretive-governance.org — Formal versioned standard for interpretive governance. better-robots.com — Documentation and resources for Better Robots.txt.