AzureAI-SearchBot user agent
Operated by Microsoft
AzureAI-SearchBot is a user agent reported for Microsoft's Azure AI search services.
The AzureAI-SearchBot bot at a glance
- AzureAI-SearchBot is operated by Microsoft and indexes web pages so an AI search product can show and cite them in answers.
- The robots.txt token for AzureAI-SearchBot is AzureAI-SearchBot.
- Blocking an AI search crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings.
- AzureAI-SearchBot robots.txt support: Not documented.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Your choice.
What is AzureAI-SearchBot?
AzureAI-SearchBot is listed in public AI-bot registries as an AI search crawler linked to Azure AI.
Microsoft has not published a page describing it, so its exact purpose is not confirmed.
Should you block AzureAI-SearchBot?
Blocking AzureAI-SearchBot is a business decision: it protects your content but can lower how well AI products know your brand.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking an AI search crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | Blocking removes your pages from that AI search index, so its answers can no longer cite or link to your website. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not documented |
| Recommendation | Your choice |
How to block or allow AzureAI-SearchBot
Put the robots.txt rule in the file at the root of every domain and subdomain, for example https://example.com/robots.txt. The token AzureAI-SearchBot is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop AzureAI-SearchBot, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block AzureAI-SearchBot
User-agent: AzureAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow AzureAI-SearchBot
User-agent: AzureAI-SearchBot
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep AzureAI-SearchBot out of private areas only
User-agent: AzureAI-SearchBot
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to AzureAI-SearchBot
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(AzureAI\-SearchBot)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to AzureAI-SearchBot
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (AzureAI\-SearchBot) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "AzureAI-SearchBot")How to verify real AzureAI-SearchBot traffic
Microsoft publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for AzureAI-SearchBot, so the user agent cannot be verified. Anyone can send the same string. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
How to find AzureAI-SearchBot in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts AzureAI-SearchBot requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "AzureAI-SearchBot" access.log | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20For a full report per AI bot, upload the log to the AI Log File Analyzer, a free tool by Justin Hà.
AzureAI-SearchBot FAQ
AzureAI-SearchBot uses the robots.txt token "AzureAI-SearchBot". Microsoft does not publish a full user-agent string, so match the token inside the User-Agent header.
Microsoft has not documented how AzureAI-SearchBot treats robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule and back it with a server rule if the traffic matters to you.
Blocking an AI search crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings. Blocking removes your pages from that AI search index, so its answers can no longer cite or link to your website.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: AzureAI-SearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. Microsoft publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for AzureAI-SearchBot, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "AzureAI-SearchBot", for example with: grep -i "AzureAI-SearchBot" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: Public bot registry. Last reviewed by Justin Hà.
See which of these bots actually reach your website
The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and other AI crawlers in your server log, for free. The GEO Technical Package sets up robots.txt, llms.txt and crawler access for AI search.
