Limiting what users can search

For example, suppose you have created a series of HTML files called finance_report_q1.html, finance_report_q2.html, and so on, which you have checked into the reports directory of your project. These documents need more work, and are not ready for general viewing. You are concerned that people from other parts of the organization may come upon these documents and get incorrect information.

To make these documents invisible to the search engine, follow these steps:

1. Check out the robots.txt file from your repository to your own computer and open it in a text editor.
2. Add a line like this one:

   Disallow: /reports/

3. Check the file back in.

Now, if someone on the domain searches for the keyword "finance," the search results do not show the reports directory containing your draft documents.