diff --git a/cmd/web.go b/cmd/web.go
index 3e7fdee4bf..1e67b2e922 100644
--- a/cmd/web.go
+++ b/cmd/web.go
@@ -198,9 +198,6 @@ func serveInstalled(ctx *cli.Context) error {
 	for fn := range publicFilesSet.Seq() {
 		log.Error("Found legacy public asset %q in CustomPath. Please move it to %s/public/assets/%s", fn, setting.CustomPath, fn)
 	}
-	if _, err := os.Stat(filepath.Join(setting.CustomPath, "robots.txt")); err == nil {
-		log.Error(`Found legacy public asset "robots.txt" in CustomPath. Please move it to %s/public/robots.txt`, setting.CustomPath)
-	}
 
 	routers.InitWebInstalled(graceful.GetManager().HammerContext())
 
diff --git a/routers/web/misc/misc.go b/routers/web/misc/misc.go
index 306b15e3d5..2f1438b9d0 100644
--- a/routers/web/misc/misc.go
+++ b/routers/web/misc/misc.go
@@ -33,17 +33,96 @@ func DummyOK(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	w.WriteHeader(http.StatusOK)
 }
 
-func RobotsTxt(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
-	robotsTxt := util.FilePathJoinAbs(setting.CustomPath, "public/robots.txt")
-	if ok, _ := util.IsExist(robotsTxt); !ok {
-		robotsTxt = util.FilePathJoinAbs(setting.CustomPath, "robots.txt") // the legacy "robots.txt"
-	}
-	httpcache.SetCacheControlInHeader(w.Header(), setting.StaticCacheTime)
-	http.ServeFile(w, req, robotsTxt)
-}
-
 func StaticRedirect(target string) func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 	return func(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
 		http.Redirect(w, req, path.Join(setting.StaticURLPrefix, target), http.StatusMovedPermanently)
 	}
 }
+
+var defaultRobotsTxt = []byte(`# The default Forgejo robots.txt
+# For more information: https://forgejo.org/docs/latest/admin/search-engines-indexation/
+
+User-agent: *
+Disallow: /api/
+Disallow: /avatars/
+Disallow: /user/
+Disallow: /swagger.*.json
+Disallow: /explore/*?*
+
+Disallow: /repo/create
+Disallow: /repo/migrate
+Disallow: /org/create
+Disallow: /*/*/fork
+
+Disallow: /*/*/watchers
+Disallow: /*/*/stargazers
+Disallow: /*/*/forks
+
+Disallow: /*/*/src/
+Disallow: /*/*/blame/
+Disallow: /*/*/commit/
+Disallow: /*/*/commits/
+Disallow: /*/*/raw/
+Disallow: /*/*/media/
+Disallow: /*/*/tags
+Disallow: /*/*/graph
+Disallow: /*/*/branches
+Disallow: /*/*/compare
+Disallow: /*/*/lastcommit/
+Disallow: /*/*/rss/branch/
+Disallow: /*/*/atom/branch/
+
+Disallow: /*/*/activity
+Disallow: /*/*/activity_author_data
+
+Disallow: /*/*/actions
+Disallow: /*/*/projects
+Disallow: /*/*/labels
+Disallow: /*/*/milestones
+
+Disallow: /*/*/find/
+Disallow: /*/*/tree-list/
+Disallow: /*/*/search/
+Disallow: /*/-/code
+
+Disallow: /*/*/issues/new
+Disallow: /*/*/pulls/*/files
+Disallow: /*/*/pulls/*/commits
+
+Disallow: /attachments/
+Disallow: /*/*/attachments/
+Disallow: /*/*/issues/*/attachments/
+Disallow: /*/*/pulls/*/attachments/
+Disallow: /*/*/releases/attachments
+Disallow: /*/*/releases/download
+
+Disallow: /*/*/archive/
+Disallow: /*.bundle$
+Disallow: /*.patch$
+Disallow: /*.diff$
+Disallow: /*.atom$
+Disallow: /*.rss$
+
+Disallow: /*lang=*
+Disallow: /*redirect_to=*
+Disallow: /*tab=*
+Disallow: /*q=*
+Disallow: /*sort=*
+Disallow: /*repo-search-archived=*
+`)
+
+func RobotsTxt(w http.ResponseWriter, req *http.Request) {
+	httpcache.SetCacheControlInHeader(w.Header(), setting.StaticCacheTime)
+	w.Header().Set("Content-Type", "text/plain")
+
+	robotsTxt := util.FilePathJoinAbs(setting.CustomPath, "public/robots.txt")
+	if ok, _ := util.IsExist(robotsTxt); ok {
+		http.ServeFile(w, req, robotsTxt)
+		return
+	}
+
+	_, err := w.Write(defaultRobotsTxt)
+	if err != nil {
+		log.Error("failed to write robots.txt: %v", err)
+	}
+}