What is Sourcedash?

Sourcedash is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Source Dashboard.

Bot name
Sourcedash
Operator
Source Dashboard
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Yes
robots.txt user agent
sourcedash
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
Yes

About Sourcedash

UK Property Search Engine

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.

Sourcedash user agent

Sourcedash identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • sourcedash/1.0 (+https://www.sourcedashboard.co.uk/spiderbot/)

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 Sourcedash in robots.txt

Sourcedash 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 Sourcedash from the whole site

User-agent: sourcedash
Disallow: /

Block Sourcedash from some folders

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

Allow Sourcedash only on some folders

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

Allow Sourcedash and block other crawlers

User-agent: sourcedash
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: sourcedash group, Sourcedash ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take sourcedash from Sourcedash's user agent; check Source Dashboard'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. Sourcedash may not follow the rule. Sourcedash 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 Source Dashboard use different names and rules.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send Sourcedash's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Source Dashboard's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real Sourcedash from a fake one.

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

Who should care about Sourcedash

Publishers

Sourcedash brings search traffic, so keep the real one allowed. Fake Sourcedash 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 Sourcedash allowed, but out of campaign and conversion data.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block Sourcedash with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is Sourcedash?

Sourcedash is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Source Dashboard. UK Property Search Engine

Does Sourcedash respect robots.txt?

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

How do I block Sourcedash?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block Sourcedash?

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

Should I block Sourcedash?

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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