What is CCBot?

CCBot is a bot in the AI crawlers category, operated by Common Crawl.

Bot name
CCBot
Operator
Common Crawl
Category
AI Crawlers
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Yes
robots.txt user agent
CCBot
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About CCBot

CCBot is the crawler of Common Crawl, a non-profit that publishes a free archive of the web. The archive is one of the most widely used sources of AI training data.

AI crawlers collect web pages in bulk to build training data for large language models and other AI systems. They take content without sending visitors back. Most publishers block them in robots.txt or at the WAF unless they have a licensing deal with the operator.

CCBot user agent

CCBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • CCBot/2.0 (https://commoncrawl.org/faq/)

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 CCBot in robots.txt

CCBot follows robots.txt, so these rules stop it crawling the paths you choose. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block CCBot from the whole site

User-agent: CCBot
Disallow: /

Block CCBot from some folders

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

Allow CCBot only on some folders

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

Allow CCBot and block other crawlers

User-agent: CCBot
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: CCBot group, CCBot ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take CCBot from CCBot's user agent; check Common Crawl'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. CCBot may not follow the rule. CCBot says it follows robots.txt, but nothing enforces that. Changes can take a day to apply, the operator can change its policy, and other crawlers from Common Crawl use different names and rules.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send CCBot's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Common Crawl's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real CCBot from a fake one.

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

Who should care about CCBot

Publishers

CCBot takes articles for AI training without sending readers back, and its page loads count as invalid traffic if your ad tags fire. Decide whether to license, limit or block it, and keep it out of ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Visits from CCBot to your landing pages are not people. Keep them out of conversion, retargeting and audience data so you do not pay to reach a crawler.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

CCBot can copy product descriptions, prices and reviews in bulk. Allow it on pages you want AI models to know about and block it on search, cart and account pages.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

CCBot can fetch documentation and public app pages at scale. Rate limit it so it does not slow the product for paying users.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block CCBot with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows CCBot 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 CCBot on your site

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

Frequently asked questions

What is CCBot?

CCBot is a bot in the AI crawlers category, operated by Common Crawl. CCBot is the crawler of Common Crawl, a non-profit that publishes a free archive of the web. The archive is one of the most widely used sources of AI training data.

Does CCBot respect robots.txt?

Yes. CCBot follows robots.txt, so a Disallow rule for the CCBot user agent stops it from crawling the paths you list.

How do I block CCBot?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block CCBot?

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

Should I block CCBot?

AI crawlers collect web pages in bulk to build training data for large language models and other AI systems. They take content without sending visitors back. Most publishers block them in robots.txt or at the WAF unless they have a licensing deal with the operator.

Related bots

All AI 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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