bitlybot

Last updated 14 hours ago.

What is bitlybot?

About

bitlybot is a fetcher operated by Bitly. It's not currently known to be artificially intelligent or AI-related. If you think that's incorrect or can provide more detail about its purpose, please contact us. Set up Dark Visitors agent analytics to see how often bitlybot visits your website.

Detail

Operator Bitly

Type

Fetcher
Fetches web content on behalf of an app

Expected Behavior

Fetchers visit websites on-demand. They're normally dispatched by apps to present metadata about a link (e.g. the title and thumbnail image) to a user.

Analytics

Visits to Your Website

Half of your traffic probably comes from artificial agents, and there are more of them every day. Track their activity with agent analytics.

Set Up Agent Analytics

Other Websites

0%
0% of top websites are blocking bitlybot
Learn How →

Robots.txt

Should I Block bitlybot?

Probably not. If you block a fetcher, it won't be able to fetch the metadata it needs to display a link preview. Fewer people will click on the link to your website without this.

How Do I Block bitlybot?

You can block bitlybot or limit its access by setting user agent token rules in your website's robots.txt. Set up Dark Visitors agent analytics to check whether it's actually following them.

User Agent Token Description
bitlybot Should match instances of bitlybot
# robots.txt
# This should block bitlybot

User-agent: bitlybot
Disallow: /

Recommended Solution

Instead of doing this manually, use automatic robots.txt to keep your rules updated with the latest AI scrapers, crawlers, and assistants automatically.

Set Up Automatic Robots.txt