YandexBlogs bot

What is YandexBlogs?

YandexBlogs is a specialized web crawler operated by Yandex, Russia's leading search engine. It functions as a dedicated bot designed specifically to discover, crawl, and index blog content, comment sections, and user-generated discussions across the web. This crawler is part of Yandex's broader ecosystem of specialized bots, each serving different indexing purposes within their search infrastructure.

The bot identifies itself in server logs with the user agent string Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexBlogs/0.99; robot; +http://yandex.com/bots). This string contains several components: compatibility with Mozilla's rendering engine, the bot name and version (YandexBlogs/0.99), an explicit "robot" identifier, and a link to Yandex's bot documentation.

Unlike some modern crawlers, YandexBlogs does not execute JavaScript and primarily relies on static HTML content for indexing. It follows standard crawling protocols, respecting robots.txt directives and crawl-delay parameters, making it a well-behaved crawler that adheres to web standards and ethical crawling practices.

Why is YandexBlogs crawling my site?

If you're seeing YandexBlogs in your server logs, it's likely because your website contains blog posts, articles, comment sections, forums, or other forms of user-generated content that Yandex wants to index for its search results. The bot specifically targets these types of content to enhance Yandex's ability to surface discussions and blog content in search results, particularly for users in Russian-speaking markets.

The frequency of YandexBlogs visits depends on several factors, including your site's popularity, how often your content changes, and your site's relevance to Yandex's user base. Sites with active comment sections or frequently updated blog content may see more regular visits from this crawler.

This crawling is generally considered authorized as part of the standard web indexing process that search engines perform. If your site is publicly accessible and doesn't explicitly block crawlers through robots.txt, search engine bots like YandexBlogs will naturally discover and index your content.

What is the purpose of YandexBlogs?

YandexBlogs serves a specific function within Yandex's search ecosystem by focusing on discovering and indexing blog content and user discussions. While Yandex's main crawler (YandexBot) handles general web content, YandexBlogs specializes in content that represents user opinions, discussions, and blog posts.

The data collected by YandexBlogs helps Yandex provide more comprehensive search results that include not just official website content but also relevant discussions and blog posts about topics users are searching for. This specialization allows Yandex to better surface content from blogs and comment sections that might otherwise be missed by more general crawling approaches.

For website owners, having blog content indexed by YandexBlogs can drive additional traffic from Yandex search results, particularly for sites targeting Russian-speaking audiences. This specialized indexing helps content creators reach readers interested in their topics through Yandex's search platform.

How do I block YandexBlogs?

YandexBlogs respects the standard robots.txt protocol, making it relatively straightforward to control its access to your site. If you wish to block YandexBlogs from crawling your entire site, you can add the following directives to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: YandexBlogs
Disallow: /

If you only want to block access to specific sections of your site, you can use more targeted directives:

User-agent: YandexBlogs
Disallow: /private-blogs/
Disallow: /comments/
Allow: /

You can also use the Crawl-delay directive to limit the crawling rate if you're concerned about server load:

User-agent: YandexBlogs
Crawl-delay: 10

Keep in mind that blocking YandexBlogs means your blog content and comment sections won't appear in Yandex search results, which could reduce your visibility to users searching on Yandex. This might be particularly impactful if your site targets audiences in Russia or other countries where Yandex has significant market share. Before implementing blocks, consider whether the traffic from Yandex is valuable for your site's goals and audience.