diff --git a/wp-includes/classes.php b/wp-includes/classes.php
index 958e4ba996..61b1179dad 100644
--- a/wp-includes/classes.php
+++ b/wp-includes/classes.php
@@ -473,7 +473,7 @@ class WP {
 	function handle_404() {
 		global $wp_query;
 
-		if ( (0 == count($wp_query->posts)) && !is_404() && !is_search() && ( $this->did_permalink || (!empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) && (false === strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '?'))) ) ) {
+		if ( (0 == count($wp_query->posts)) && !is_404() && !is_robots() && !is_search() && ( $this->did_permalink || (!empty($_SERVER['QUERY_STRING']) && (false === strpos($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'], '?'))) ) ) {
 			// Don't 404 for these queries if they matched an object.
 			if ( ( is_tag() || is_category() || is_author() ) && $wp_query->get_queried_object() ) {
 				if ( !is_404() )