YouBot

Last updated 10 hours ago.

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. You can see how often YouBot visits your website by setting up Dark Visitors agent analytics.

Detail

Operator You.com
Documentation https://about.you.com/youbot/

Type

AI Search Crawler
Indexes web content for AI-powered search results

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.

Agent 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.

Top Websites

7%
7% of top websites are blocking YouBot in their robots.txt
Learn How →
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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.

Global Insights

AI Search Crawlers

The percentage of all internet traffic coming from AI search crawlers

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