What is AddSearchBot?

AddSearchBot is a bot in the SEO crawlers category, operated by Addsearch.

Bot name
AddSearchBot
Operator
Addsearch
Category
SEO Crawlers
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
AddSearchBot
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About AddSearchBot

As AddSearch adds content from your site to the search, the AddSearch bot gets counted as traffic by most analytics software.

SEO crawlers map links, keywords and technical issues for SEO tools and backlink databases. They help the tool's customers, often your competitors, rather than you. Rate limit or block the ones you do not use.

AddSearchBot user agent

Sample user agent strings sent by AddSearchBot:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; AddSearchBot/1.0; +http://www.addsearch.com/bot/)
  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; AddSearchBot/1.0; +http://www.addsearch.com/bot; [email protected])

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block AddSearchBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether AddSearchBot follows robots.txt. Add a rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block AddSearchBot from the whole site

User-agent: AddSearchBot
Disallow: /

Block AddSearchBot from some folders

User-agent: AddSearchBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow AddSearchBot only on some folders

User-agent: AddSearchBot
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow AddSearchBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: AddSearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: AddSearchBot group, AddSearchBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take AddSearchBot from AddSearchBot's user agent; check Addsearch's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. AddSearchBot may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that AddSearchBot follows it. Check your logs after adding a rule.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send AddSearchBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Addsearch's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real AddSearchBot from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about AddSearchBot

Publishers

AddSearchBot works for an SEO tool's customers, often your competitors. It adds server load without readers, so rate limit or block it unless you use the tool.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

SEO crawlers map landing pages and links for competitor research. Keep AddSearchBot's visits out of campaign data.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

AddSearchBot can map your catalogue, prices and site structure for competitors. Block it unless you use the tool yourself.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow AddSearchBot only if your team uses the tool; otherwise rate limit it on docs and marketing pages.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block AddSearchBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows AddSearchBot by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control AddSearchBot on your site

  • See every AddSearchBot visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit AddSearchBot with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is AddSearchBot?

AddSearchBot is a bot in the SEO crawlers category, operated by Addsearch. As AddSearch adds content from your site to the search, the AddSearch bot gets counted as traffic by most analytics software.

Does AddSearchBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether AddSearchBot follows robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule, then check your logs to see that it stopped, and block it by user agent if it did not.

How do I block AddSearchBot?

Add "User-agent: AddSearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "AddSearchBot" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block AddSearchBot?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so AddSearchBot may not follow it, and anyone can send AddSearchBot's user agent, so a fake AddSearchBot ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block AddSearchBot?

SEO crawlers map links, keywords and technical issues for SEO tools and backlink databases. They help the tool's customers, often your competitors, rather than you. Rate limit or block the ones you do not use.

Related bots

All SEO crawlers · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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