diff --git a/app/controllers/robots_txt_controller.rb b/app/controllers/robots_txt_controller.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..785cc8646c6
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/controllers/robots_txt_controller.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,14 @@
+class RobotsTxtController < ApplicationController
+  layout false
+  skip_before_filter :check_xhr
+
+  def index
+    path = if SiteSetting.allow_index_in_robots_txt && !SiteSetting.restrict_access
+      :index
+    else
+      :no_index
+    end
+    
+    render path, content_type: 'text/plain'
+  end
+end
diff --git a/app/models/site_setting.rb b/app/models/site_setting.rb
index 6a0720b1616..65c3b93b79c 100644
--- a/app/models/site_setting.rb
+++ b/app/models/site_setting.rb
@@ -102,6 +102,8 @@ class SiteSetting < ActiveRecord::Base
   # we need to think of a way to force users to enter certain settings, this is a minimal config thing
   setting(:notification_email, 'info@discourse.org')
 
+  setting(:allow_index_in_robots_txt, true)
+
   setting(:send_welcome_message, true)
 
   setting(:twitter_consumer_key, '')
diff --git a/public/robots.txt b/app/views/robots_txt/index.erb
similarity index 50%
rename from public/robots.txt
rename to app/views/robots_txt/index.erb
index 085187fa58b..376f3ae7184 100644
--- a/public/robots.txt
+++ b/app/views/robots_txt/index.erb
@@ -1,5 +1,2 @@
 # See http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html for documentation on how to use the robots.txt file
 #
-# To ban all spiders from the entire site uncomment the next two lines:
-# User-Agent: *
-# Disallow: /
diff --git a/app/views/robots_txt/no_index.erb b/app/views/robots_txt/no_index.erb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..867036ff28a
--- /dev/null
+++ b/app/views/robots_txt/no_index.erb
@@ -0,0 +1,6 @@
+# See http://www.robotstxt.org/wc/norobots.html for documentation on how to use the robots.txt file
+#
+User-Agent: *
+Disallow: /
+
+
diff --git a/config/locales/en.yml b/config/locales/en.yml
index 51510682d4f..0a3331ef46e 100644
--- a/config/locales/en.yml
+++ b/config/locales/en.yml
@@ -257,6 +257,9 @@ en:
     posts_per_page: "How many posts are returned on a topic page"
     system_username: "Username that sends system messages"
     send_welcome_message: "Do new users get a welcome private message?"
+    
+    allow_index_in_robots_txt: "Site should be indexed by search engines (update robots.txt)"
+
     port: "If you'd like to specify a port in the URL. Useful in development mode. Leave blank for none."
     force_hostname: "If you'd like to specify a hostname in the URL. Useful in development mode. Leave blank for none."
 
diff --git a/config/routes.rb b/config/routes.rb
index c81a86d1776..9da1c576503 100644
--- a/config/routes.rb
+++ b/config/routes.rb
@@ -207,6 +207,9 @@ Discourse::Application.routes.draw do
   post 'draft' => 'draft#update'
   delete 'draft' => 'draft#destroy'
 
+
+  get 'robots.txt' => 'robots_txt#index'
+
   # You can have the root of your site routed with "root"
   # just remember to delete public/index.html.
   root :to => 'list#index'
diff --git a/spec/controllers/robots_txt_controller_spec.rb b/spec/controllers/robots_txt_controller_spec.rb
new file mode 100644
index 00000000000..6bd739c062d
--- /dev/null
+++ b/spec/controllers/robots_txt_controller_spec.rb
@@ -0,0 +1,26 @@
+require 'spec_helper'
+
+describe RobotsTxtController do
+
+  context '.index' do
+    it "returns noindex when indexing is disallowed" do
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:allow_index_in_robots_txt).returns(true)
+      get :index
+      response.should render_template :index
+    end
+
+    it "returns index when indexing is allowed" do
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:allow_index_in_robots_txt).returns(false)
+      get :index
+      response.should render_template :no_index
+    end    
+    
+    it "serves it regardless if a site is in private mode" do 
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:allow_index_in_robots_txt).returns(true)
+      SiteSetting.stubs(:restrict_access).returns(true)
+      get :index
+      response.should render_template :no_index
+    end
+
+  end
+end