What is RakutenImageExtractionBot?

RakutenImageExtractionBot is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by Rakuten.

Bot name
RakutenImageExtractionBot
Operator
Rakuten
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
rakutenusabot-image
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About RakutenImageExtractionBot

Rakuten uses this bot to crawl product images so that we can display cashbach deals for our merchants.

Aggregators collect articles and links from many sites to build news feeds, read later apps and discovery services. Some send referral traffic, others republish your content. Check what each one does with your pages before allowing it.

RakutenImageExtractionBot user agent

RakutenImageExtractionBot identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; rakutenusabot-image/1.0) Chrome/114.0.0.0 Safari/537.36

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 RakutenImageExtractionBot in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether RakutenImageExtractionBot 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 RakutenImageExtractionBot from the whole site

User-agent: rakutenusabot-image
Disallow: /

Block RakutenImageExtractionBot from some folders

User-agent: rakutenusabot-image
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow RakutenImageExtractionBot only on some folders

User-agent: rakutenusabot-image
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow RakutenImageExtractionBot and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about RakutenImageExtractionBot

Publishers

RakutenImageExtractionBot 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, RakutenImageExtractionBot 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 RakutenImageExtractionBot. Keep it allowed so previews show the right image and price.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block RakutenImageExtractionBot with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is RakutenImageExtractionBot?

RakutenImageExtractionBot is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by Rakuten. Rakuten uses this bot to crawl product images so that we can display cashbach deals for our merchants.

Does RakutenImageExtractionBot respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether RakutenImageExtractionBot 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 RakutenImageExtractionBot?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block RakutenImageExtractionBot?

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

Should I block RakutenImageExtractionBot?

Aggregators collect articles and links from many sites to build news feeds, read later apps and discovery services. Some send referral traffic, others republish your content. Check what each one does with your pages before allowing it.

Related bots

All content aggregators · 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.

Stay ahead of the publishing curve

Privacy, security, monetization, and performance insights. A few emails a month, no spam.

By subscribing you agree to our privacy policy.