YouBot
What is YouBot?
About
YouBot is a web crawler used by You.com to index search results that allow their AI Assistant to answer user questions. The assistant's answers normally contain references to the website as inline sources. Set up Dark Visitors agent analytics to see how often YouBot visits your website.
Detail
| Operator | You.com |
| Documentation | https://about.you.com/youbot/ |
Type
Expected Behavior
AI search crawlers do not adhere to a fixed visitation schedule for websites. The frequency of visits varies widely based on many factors, and can even happen on-demand in response to a user query.
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 YouBot?
Probably not. AI search crawlers power AI search engines, which are a useful way for users to discover your website. AI search engine assistants usually cite their sources and provide links to their results.
How Do I Block YouBot?
You can block YouBot 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 |
|---|---|
YouBot |
Should match instances of YouBot |
# robots.txt
# This should block YouBot
User-agent: YouBot
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
