Iframely bot

What is Iframely?

Iframely is a specialized web crawler developed and operated by Itteco Software Corp. that focuses on extracting and processing embedded content from web pages. It functions as an oEmbed and Open Graph processing service that helps websites generate rich link previews when content is shared or embedded. The service is available at iframely.com, where developers can access documentation about its capabilities and implementation.

First appearing around 2014, Iframely has evolved through multiple versions, with recent iterations being 1.3.1. Technically, it's classified as a specialized content extraction crawler that scans web pages to determine how they can be embedded in other sites.

Iframely identifies itself in server logs with user-agent strings following patterns like Iframely/1.3.1 (+https://iframely.com/docs/about) or Iframely/1.3.1 (+https://iframely.com/docs/about) Atlassian when operating on behalf of specific platforms. This identification allows website administrators to recognize when Iframely is accessing their content.

The crawler operates by visiting web pages, analyzing their structure, and extracting metadata that helps generate rich previews when those pages are linked elsewhere. It's particularly focused on media content, embeddable elements, and the semantic information needed to represent a page accurately when embedded.

Why is Iframely crawling my site?

Iframely typically crawls websites when someone has requested a preview of your content on another platform. This happens when users or applications attempt to embed or share your content through platforms that use Iframely's services.

The crawler specifically looks for metadata, Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, oEmbed endpoints, and other structured data that helps it understand how to properly represent your content when embedded elsewhere. It's particularly interested in media elements like images, videos, and interactive content that can be embedded.

Crawling frequency depends entirely on how often your content is requested for embedding through Iframely's service. Popular content that's frequently shared may see more regular visits, while less-referenced content might rarely encounter the crawler.

The crawling is generally considered authorized as it serves the legitimate purpose of enabling proper content sharing across the web. When someone attempts to embed your content, Iframely acts as an intermediary to ensure that embedding happens correctly.

What is the purpose of Iframely?

Iframely serves as a content embedding and link unfurling service that helps websites and applications display rich previews of external content. Its primary function is to transform simple URLs into informative, interactive previews that enhance user experience.

The service supports a wide range of platforms including content management systems, social networks, forums, and collaboration tools that need to display previews of shared links. Data collected by Iframely is used to generate these previews, showing relevant thumbnails, titles, descriptions, and sometimes interactive elements from the original content.

For website owners, Iframely provides value by ensuring their content is represented accurately when shared across the web. It helps maintain brand consistency and engagement by displaying content as intended, rather than as basic links.

Websites being crawled benefit from having their content properly displayed when users share it elsewhere, potentially driving traffic back to the original source through these rich previews.

How do I block Iframely?

Iframely generally does not respect standard robots.txt directives, which means traditional crawl control methods may not be effective. Since the crawler accesses your site on behalf of other users or services attempting to embed your content, its behavior is more closely tied to how your content is shared rather than automated crawling patterns.

If you need to control Iframely's access to your site, you'll likely need to implement server-side blocking based on the user agent. You can identify Iframely requests by looking for user agent strings that contain "Iframely" and implement appropriate rules in your web server configuration or through security plugins if you're using a content management system.

For Apache servers, you might add rules to your .htaccess file that block requests from the Iframely user agent. For Nginx, similar rules can be added to your server configuration. Keep in mind that blocking Iframely may impact how your content appears when shared on platforms that use this service for link unfurling.

Alternatively, you can control how your content appears when embedded by implementing proper Open Graph tags, Twitter cards, and oEmbed endpoints. This allows you to maintain control over your content's presentation without blocking the service entirely.

Before implementing any blocking measures, consider that preventing Iframely access might result in poor representation of your content when shared on platforms that rely on this service, potentially reducing engagement and visibility.