What is YandexVideoParser?

YandexVideoParser is a specialized web crawler operated by Yandex, Russia's leading search engine company. It's designed specifically to discover, analyze, and index video content across the internet for inclusion in Yandex's video search results. As part of Yandex's suite of specialized crawlers, this bot focuses exclusively on video files and their associated metadata rather than general webpage content.

The bot identifies itself in server logs with the user agent string: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexVideoParser/1.0; +http://yandex.com/bots). This format follows standard conventions, with the bot name and version followed by a link to Yandex's official documentation where webmasters can verify its legitimacy.

Unlike general-purpose crawlers, YandexVideoParser exhibits targeted behavior, focusing on pages with embedded videos, video sitemaps, and multimedia content. It's particularly interested in parsing HTML markup for video metadata, including Open Graph tags, schema.org/VideoObject structured data, and platform-specific video information. The crawler operates at a measured pace to avoid overwhelming servers, adjusting its crawl frequency based on how often a site updates its video content.

Why is YandexVideoParser crawling my site?

If you're seeing YandexVideoParser in your server logs, it's because your website contains video content that Yandex wants to include in its video search results. The bot is looking for video files, embedded players, and associated metadata that help Yandex understand what your videos are about.

The crawler is particularly attracted to pages containing <video> tags, iframe embeds from popular video platforms, or structured data that describes video content. Sites that regularly publish new videos or have dedicated media sections will typically see more frequent visits from this bot.

YandexVideoParser's crawling is generally considered authorized as part of the normal web indexing process that search engines perform. The frequency of visits depends on your website's size, popularity, and how often you update your video content. High-traffic sites with frequent video updates may see this bot multiple times per day, while smaller sites with static video content might only receive occasional visits.

What is the purpose of YandexVideoParser?

YandexVideoParser serves a critical role in powering Yandex's video search functionality. By extracting detailed information about videos across the web, it enables Yandex to offer users rich video search results that include thumbnails, durations, and other relevant metadata.

The data collected by this crawler helps Yandex:

Populate its video search index with accurate and up-to-date content
Generate video previews and thumbnails in search results
Understand video content for improved relevance ranking
Provide enhanced video listings with details like duration and resolution

For website owners, having your videos properly indexed by YandexVideoParser can drive additional traffic from Yandex's video search. This is particularly valuable for sites targeting Russian-speaking audiences or operating in regions where Yandex has significant market share.

How do I block YandexVideoParser?

YandexVideoParser respects standard robots.txt directives, making it relatively straightforward to control its access to your site. To completely block this crawler from accessing your entire site, add the following to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: YandexVideoParser
Disallow: /

If you only want to prevent it from accessing specific directories or files, you can use more targeted directives:

User-agent: YandexVideoParser
Disallow: /private-videos/
Disallow: /members-only/videos/

It's worth noting that YandexVideoParser may require explicit targeting in your robots.txt file. Unlike some crawlers that follow rules set for "User-agent: *", YandexVideoParser might need specific directives. For the most effective control, include both general and specific rules in your robots.txt file.

Blocking YandexVideoParser will prevent your videos from appearing in Yandex's video search results, which could reduce visibility and traffic from users of this search engine. If you're concerned about bandwidth usage rather than indexing, consider implementing rate limiting on your server instead of completely blocking the bot. This approach allows your content to remain discoverable while managing server load.

YandexVideoParser