What is PagePeeker?

PagePeeker is a bot in the link preview bots category, operated by PagePeeker.

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

About PagePeeker

PagePeeker takes screenshots of web pages to make website thumbnails.

Link preview bots fetch a page when someone shares its URL in a chat app or social network, to build the preview card. Blocking them breaks your link previews, so keep them allowed but leave them out of analytics and ad requests.

PagePeeker user agent

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 PagePeeker in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether PagePeeker 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 PagePeeker from the whole site

User-agent: PagePeeker
Disallow: /

Block PagePeeker from some folders

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

Allow PagePeeker only on some folders

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

Allow PagePeeker and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about PagePeeker

Publishers

PagePeeker fetches pages when your links are shared or syndicated. Keep it allowed so previews and feeds work, but leave it out of page views and ad requests.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

When ads or posts are shared, PagePeeker fetches the landing page. Those hits are not clicks, so keep them out of campaign reports.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

Product links shared in chats and feeds are fetched by PagePeeker. Keep it allowed so previews show the right image and price.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow PagePeeker on public pages so shared links preview well, and keep it off the app.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block PagePeeker with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is PagePeeker?

PagePeeker is a bot in the link preview bots category, operated by PagePeeker. PagePeeker takes screenshots of web pages to make website thumbnails.

Does PagePeeker respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether PagePeeker 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 PagePeeker?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block PagePeeker?

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

Should I block PagePeeker?

Link preview bots fetch a page when someone shares its URL in a chat app or social network, to build the preview card. Blocking them breaks your link previews, so keep them allowed but leave them out of analytics and ad requests.

Related bots

All link preview bots · 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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