What is OutsellURLValidator?

OutsellURLValidator is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Outsell Corporation.

Bot name
OutsellURLValidator
Operator
Outsell Corporation
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
OutsellURLValidator
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About OutsellURLValidator

Validating client website URLS to monitor for hosting/provider changes

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

OutsellURLValidator user agent

OutsellURLValidator identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • OutsellURLValidator

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 OutsellURLValidator in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether OutsellURLValidator 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 OutsellURLValidator from the whole site

User-agent: OutsellURLValidator
Disallow: /

Block OutsellURLValidator from some folders

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

Allow OutsellURLValidator only on some folders

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

Allow OutsellURLValidator and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about OutsellURLValidator

Publishers

Allow OutsellURLValidator if it is a service you use, and keep its visits out of page views and ad requests either way.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

OutsellURLValidator is not a person. Exclude it from campaign and conversion data so reports reflect real visitors.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Allow OutsellURLValidator only if it works for your store, and keep it away from cart and checkout.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

If OutsellURLValidator is a service you use, allow it on the endpoints it needs and block it elsewhere.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block OutsellURLValidator with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is OutsellURLValidator?

OutsellURLValidator is a bot in the monitoring and analytics bots category, operated by Outsell Corporation. Validating client website URLS to monitor for hosting/provider changes

Does OutsellURLValidator respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether OutsellURLValidator 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 OutsellURLValidator?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block OutsellURLValidator?

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

Should I block OutsellURLValidator?

Monitoring bots check uptime, performance and page changes on behalf of a site owner or a third party. Allow the services you run yourself and exclude them from analytics so they do not inflate page views.

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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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