What is Funnelback?

Funnelback is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Squiz - FunnelBack.

Bot name
Funnelback
Operator
Squiz - FunnelBack
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
Funnelback
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About Funnelback

Funnelback is an enterprise search platform, and its crawler indexes content from an organization's websites and data repositories. This powers the organization's internal search function.

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

Funnelback user agent

Funnelback identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Funnelback

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 Funnelback in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether Funnelback 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 Funnelback from the whole site

User-agent: Funnelback
Disallow: /

Block Funnelback from some folders

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

Allow Funnelback only on some folders

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

Allow Funnelback and block other crawlers

User-agent: Funnelback
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: Funnelback group, Funnelback ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Funnelback from Funnelback's user agent; check Squiz - FunnelBack'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. Funnelback may not follow the rule. robots.txt is a request that nothing enforces, and we have not confirmed that Funnelback 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 Funnelback's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Squiz - FunnelBack's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Funnelback from a fake one.

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

Who should care about Funnelback

Publishers

Funnelback brings search traffic, so keep the real one allowed. Fake Funnelback requests are a common cover for scrapers, so verify it by network rather than by name.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Search crawlers fetch landing pages to check them. Keep Funnelback allowed, but out of campaign and conversion data.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Funnelback indexes products for search results. Allow it, and block impersonators that use its name to scrape prices.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow Funnelback on marketing and docs pages, and keep it off signed-in app pages it cannot use.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Funnelback with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Funnelback?

Funnelback is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Squiz - FunnelBack. Funnelback is an enterprise search platform, and its crawler indexes content from an organization's websites and data repositories. This powers the organization's internal search function.

Does Funnelback respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether Funnelback 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 Funnelback?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block Funnelback?

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

Should I block Funnelback?

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

Related bots

All search engine 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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