Search engines

Classic index-and-rank crawlers. Several also feed their operator's generative answers, which is why the AI opt-out for Google and Apple is a token rather than a block.

CrawlerTokenOperatorCost of blocking
ApplebotApplebotAppleYou disappear from Siri, Spotlight and Safari search suggestions across Apple's install ba…
BaiduspiderBaiduspiderBaiduRemoval from Baidu Search, which matters only if you want Chinese-language traffic.…
bingbotbingbotMicrosoftVery high and very wide: Bing, Copilot, DuckDuckGo and several assistants that resell Bing…
DuckDuckBotDuckDuckBotDuckDuckGoLimited on its own; the real DuckDuckGo lever is bingbot.…
GooglebotGooglebotGoogleTotal. You leave Google Search. Never block this to avoid AI use; use Google-Extended inst…
Googlebot-ImageGooglebot-ImageGoogleYour images stop appearing in Google Images.…
Googlebot-NewsGooglebot-NewsGoogleRemoval from Google News, with normal Search unaffected.…
PetalBotPetalBotHuaweiRemoval from Petal Search. Frequently blocked for volume rather than for policy.…
SeznamBotSeznamBotSeznamRemoval from Seznam. Also removes you from its IndexNow endpoint's usefulness.…
Storebot-GoogleStorebot-GoogleGoogleProduct listings may lose shopping-specific enrichment. Irrelevant to non-commerce sites.…
TimpibotTimpibotTimpiAbsence from a small independent index.…
YandexBotYandexBotYandexRemoval from Yandex Search. Verify with reverse DNS to a yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.c…
YetiYetiNaverRemoval from Naver, which is most of Korean search.…

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