What is WebSpiderMount?

WebSpiderMount is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by AspenTechLabs Inc.

Bot name
WebSpiderMount
Operator
AspenTechLabs Inc
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Not confirmed
robots.txt user agent
webspidermount
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About WebSpiderMount

Job wrapping data processor handling jobs distribution from employer websites to multiple endpoints, like job boards, advertisement platforms, job alerts etc.

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.

WebSpiderMount user agent

WebSpiderMount identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; WSM/2.0; +https://webspidermount.com/)

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 WebSpiderMount in robots.txt

We have not confirmed whether WebSpiderMount 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 WebSpiderMount from the whole site

User-agent: webspidermount
Disallow: /

Block WebSpiderMount from some folders

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

Allow WebSpiderMount only on some folders

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

Allow WebSpiderMount and block other crawlers

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

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

Who should care about WebSpiderMount

Publishers

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

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

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

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block WebSpiderMount with Transfon Security

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

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

Frequently asked questions

What is WebSpiderMount?

WebSpiderMount is a bot in the content aggregators category, operated by AspenTechLabs Inc. Job wrapping data processor handling jobs distribution from employer websites to multiple endpoints, like job boards, advertisement platforms, job alerts etc.

Does WebSpiderMount respect robots.txt?

We have not confirmed whether WebSpiderMount 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 WebSpiderMount?

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

Is robots.txt enough to block WebSpiderMount?

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

Should I block WebSpiderMount?

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.

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