.htaccess and web crawlers

[Webitseo]

I'm not sure which category to put this question in as it involves a couple of different issues. Does anyone know if using an .htaccess file interferes with web crawlers, or is it only robot.txt that prevents the robots from crawling?

I've used .htaccess to block access to a gallery of images for a client with an adult website, and used right-click block of photos, as she does not want her pics copied or saved. However, I would like her pics to show up in image searches. Ohhhh, that just raised another concern: I didn't think about images appearing in searches. There's no way to prevent copying those. Crumbs. Well, at least those are just thumbnails.

So anyway, does .htaccess interfere with SEO?

Thanks in advance.

[Charles]

No, .htaccess is completely behind the scenes so search engines don't read it. In fact, your server should be configured to block access to it. And you'll want to use it to block hot linking. But trust me, everybody already knows how to get past your "no click" script and the images will be posted elsewhere and freely available any day now.

[Webitseo]

lol. Oh dear. I assumed the way around the right click block was to just look at the page source and see which directory the pictures were in and then go there and copy from there, which is why I wanted to use the .htaccess thing. But I suppose there's another way? I'm not a techy at all, and there's SO much I don't know. You said, "In fact, your server should be configured to block access to it." Do you mean block access to the .htaccess file? The reason for blocking hot linking is to prevent use of bandwidth, correct?