What is the purpose of the robots.txt file?

The robots.txt file serves a significant role in guiding how search engines interact with a website. Specifically, its primary purpose is to provide directives to web crawlers about which parts of a site should not be accessed or indexed. By specifying rules in the robots.txt file, website owners can manage the crawling of their pages, which helps protect sensitive information or prevent search engines from indexing duplicate content, thereby ensuring that only relevant pages are included in search results.

Additionally, search engines like Google, Bing, and others adhere to the instructions provided in a site's robots.txt file when they send their crawlers to explore the site. This makes the file an essential part of a website's overall SEO strategy, allowing developers and website managers to shape how their content appears in search engine results. The other choices presented do not accurately reflect the functionality of the robots.txt file in relation to search engine behavior.