dotbot
What is dotbot?
About
dotbot is an SEO crawler operated by Moz. 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 dotbot visits your website.
Detail
Operator | Moz |
Documentation | https://moz.com/help/moz-procedures/crawlers/dotbot |
Type
Expected Behavior
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) crawlers do not adhere to a fixed visitation schedule for websites. The frequency of visits varies widely based on several factors, including the search keywords it ranks for, and how many other websites link to it.
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 AnalyticsOther Websites
Robots.txt
Should I Block dotbot?
Probably not, especially if you benefit from an SEO service yourself. However, you might choose to block them if you're concerned about things like server resource usage.
How Do I Block dotbot?
You can block dotbot 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 |
---|---|
dotbot |
Should match instances of dotbot |
# robots.txt
# This should block dotbot
User-agent: dotbot
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