DataForSeoBot user agent
Operated by DataForSEO
DataForSeoBot is DataForSEO's crawler that builds the backlink index sold through its Backlinks API.
The DataForSeoBot bot at a glance
- DataForSeoBot is operated by DataForSEO and crawls web pages for a search engine index, and fetches pages to power a specific product feature.
- The robots.txt token for DataForSeoBot is DataForSeoBot.
- Blocking an SEO tool crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings.
- DataForSeoBot robots.txt support: Yes.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Your choice.
What is DataForSeoBot?
DataForSeoBot data reaches many third-party SEO tools that buy DataForSEO’s API.
DataForSEO documents its user agent and crawl-delay support.
Should you block DataForSeoBot?
Blocking DataForSeoBot is a business decision: it protects your content but can lower how well AI products know your brand.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking an SEO tool crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | No effect on AI answers. Blocking hides your pages and backlinks from that SEO tool, including from competitors who use it, and breaks your own audits in that tool. |
| Follows robots.txt | Yes |
| Recommendation | Your choice |
How to block or allow DataForSeoBot
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 DataForSeoBot is matched case-insensitively.
robots.txt: block
# Block DataForSeoBot
User-agent: DataForSeoBot
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow DataForSeoBot
User-agent: DataForSeoBot
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep DataForSeoBot out of private areas only
User-agent: DataForSeoBot
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to DataForSeoBot
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(DataForSeoBot)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to DataForSeoBot
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (DataForSeoBot) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "DataForSeoBot")How to verify real DataForSeoBot traffic
DataForSEO publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for DataForSeoBot, 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 DataForSeoBot in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts DataForSeoBot requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "DataForSeoBot" 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.
DataForSeoBot user agent string
The full user agent DataForSEO publishes for DataForSeoBot. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; DataForSeoBot; +https://dataforseo.com/dataforseo-bot)DataForSeoBot FAQ
DataForSeoBot identifies itself with the robots.txt token "DataForSeoBot". A typical request header reads: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; DataForSeoBot; +https://dataforseo.com/dataforseo-bot)
Yes. DataForSEO states that DataForSeoBot follows robots.txt rules written for the "DataForSeoBot" token.
Blocking an SEO tool crawler has no effect on Google or Bing rankings. No effect on AI answers. Blocking hides your pages and backlinks from that SEO tool, including from competitors who use it, and breaks your own audits in that tool.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: DataForSeoBot" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. DataForSEO publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for DataForSeoBot, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "DataForSeoBot", for example with: grep -i "DataForSeoBot" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: DataForSEO crawler documentation. 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.
