What is Sogou web spider?

Sogou web spider is a web crawler operated by Sogou Inc, one of China's largest search engine companies. Launched in 2004 as part of Sohu.com, this crawler serves as the backbone of Sogou's search engine infrastructure. It's classified as a conventional web crawler that systematically browses the internet to discover and index web content for Sogou's search database.

The spider works by following links between pages, collecting content, and sending this data back to Sogou's servers where it's processed and added to their search index. Unlike more advanced crawlers, Sogou web spider operates as a basic HTTP request tool without embedded artificial intelligence capabilities.

When visiting your site, Sogou web spider identifies itself through user agent strings such as Sogou web spider/4.0(+http://www.sogou.com/docs/help/webmasters.htm#07). This string includes the crawler's name, version number, and a link to Sogou's webmaster documentation. The crawler operates from a pool of IP addresses primarily located in China, often using hostnames following the pattern sogouspider-xxx-xxx-xx-xx.crawl.sogou.com.

Why is Sogou web spider crawling my site?

Sogou web spider crawls websites to gather information for inclusion in Sogou's search engine results. If you're seeing this crawler in your logs, it means your content is being evaluated for potential inclusion in Sogou's search index, particularly if your site contains Chinese-language content or targets audiences in China.

The crawler prioritizes HTML text and hyperlinks, with particular attention to sites that are popular in China or contain Chinese-language content. Crawling frequency varies based on your website's popularity, update frequency, and geographic targeting. High-traffic Chinese-language sites may receive daily visits, while international or less popular domains might experience only occasional crawling.

Your site may receive more attention from Sogou if it's gaining popularity among Chinese users, contains relevant content for Sogou's audience, or has inbound links from Chinese websites.

What is the purpose of Sogou web spider?

The primary purpose of Sogou web spider is to support Sogou's search engine by discovering, analyzing, and indexing web content. This crawler helps Sogou maintain a comprehensive database of web pages that powers search results for millions of users, primarily in China.

The data collected by Sogou web spider enables Sogou to deliver relevant search results to its users. By crawling your website, Sogou can include your content in search results, potentially driving traffic from Chinese search users to your site.

For website owners, having content indexed by Sogou can provide visibility in the Chinese market, which represents a significant online audience. However, unlike Google or Bing, Sogou's crawler has limited capabilities for processing JavaScript-dependent content, which may affect how your dynamic content appears in their search results.

How do I block Sogou web spider?

If you wish to control Sogou web spider's access to your site, you can use the robots.txt file, which Sogou claims to respect. To block the crawler completely, add the following directives to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: Sogou web spider
Disallow: /

To allow crawling of specific sections while blocking others, you can use more targeted directives:

User-agent: Sogou web spider
Allow: /public/
Disallow: /private/

Place this file in your site's root directory where it can be accessed at yourdomain.com/robots.txt.

While Sogou states they honor robots.txt directives, some webmasters have reported inconsistent compliance. If you continue to see Sogou crawler activity despite robots.txt restrictions, you may need to implement additional measures like IP blocking or user agent detection through your server configuration.

Blocking Sogou web spider will prevent your content from appearing in Sogou's search results, which might reduce visibility to Chinese users. However, if you don't target the Chinese market or are experiencing excessive crawling that impacts server performance, blocking may be beneficial.

Sogou web spider