What is serpstatbot?

Serpstatbot is an SEO crawler operated by Serpstat, an all-in-one SEO platform that provides tools for keyword research, competitor analysis, backlink tracking, and site auditing. The bot functions as a web crawler designed to discover and index links across the internet, continuously scanning websites to build and maintain Serpstat's backlink database.

In server logs, serpstatbot identifies itself with the user agent string serpstatbot, making it easily identifiable when reviewing website traffic. The crawler follows standard crawling protocols and is programmed to respect robots.txt directives, allowing website administrators to control its access.

What sets serpstatbot apart from some other crawlers is its comprehensive approach to link discovery. It not only follows standard links but also crawls links with rel="nofollow" attributes, ensuring a complete picture of the web's link structure. Additionally, the bot collects historical data, continuing to track links to pages with 404 or 301 response codes if those links still exist elsewhere on the web.

Why is serpstatbot crawling my site?

Serpstatbot visits websites to discover and track backlinks. If you're seeing this bot in your logs, it's likely scanning your site to identify links pointing to or from your domain. The crawler is particularly interested in:

Links between pages on your site
Links from your site to external domains
Links from other sites to your domain

The frequency of serpstatbot visits isn't fixed but varies based on your site's size, authority, and link profile. Sites with more extensive link networks or higher authority may see more frequent visits as the bot works to keep Serpstat's database current.

The crawling is a standard part of how SEO tools operate and is generally considered authorized web activity, similar to how search engine bots like Googlebot crawl the web to build their indexes.

What is the purpose of serpstatbot?

Serpstatbot's primary purpose is to build and maintain Serpstat's backlink database, which is one of the largest in the SEO industry. This database serves as the foundation for several Serpstat services, including:

Backlink analysis tools that help website owners understand who is linking to them
Competitor research features that reveal link-building strategies of other sites
SEO planning tools that identify link-building opportunities
Link monitoring to track changes in a site's backlink profile over time

The data collected by serpstatbot is processed and made available to Serpstat users through their platform. This information provides valuable insights for marketing campaigns, helping businesses improve their search engine visibility and understand their position in the competitive landscape.

For website owners, even those who don't use Serpstat, the crawling can indirectly provide value by ensuring their sites are represented accurately in Serpstat's database, potentially increasing visibility to Serpstat users looking for industry resources or link partners.

How do I block serpstatbot?

If you prefer to block serpstatbot from crawling your website, you can do so using your site's robots.txt file. Serpstatbot respects the standard robots.txt protocol, making it relatively straightforward to control its access. To completely block serpstatbot from your entire site, add the following directives to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: serpstatbot
Disallow: /

If you want to allow serpstatbot to crawl certain parts of your site while restricting access to others, you can use more specific Disallow directives:

User-agent: serpstatbot
Disallow: /private-directory/
Disallow: /sensitive-content/
Allow: /

You can also slow down serpstatbot's crawling rate to reduce server load by adding a Crawl-delay directive:

User-agent: serpstatbot
Crawl-delay: 5

This tells serpstatbot to wait 5 seconds between requests. Serpstatbot accepts delays up to 20 seconds. Higher values will be capped at 20.

If you believe serpstatbot isn't following your robots.txt directives, you can contact them directly at serpstatbot@serpstatbot.com with your website URL and log entries showing unauthorized access attempts.

Blocking serpstatbot won't negatively impact your search engine rankings, as it's not affiliated with any search engine. However, your site and its backlinks won't be included in Serpstat's database, potentially reducing your visibility to Serpstat users researching your industry.

serpstatbot