DuckDuckBot user agent
Operated by DuckDuckGo
DuckDuckBot is DuckDuckGo's web crawler that improves DuckDuckGo search results.
The DuckDuckBot bot at a glance
- DuckDuckBot is operated by DuckDuckGo and crawls web pages for a search engine index.
- The robots.txt token for DuckDuckBot is DuckDuckBot.
- Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results.
- DuckDuckBot robots.txt support: Yes.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is DuckDuckBot?
DuckDuckBot crawls pages for DuckDuckGo search. DuckDuckGo also draws on partner indexes, so its results do not rely on DuckDuckBot alone.
DuckDuckGo publishes the IP addresses DuckDuckBot uses.
Should you block DuckDuckBot?
Allow DuckDuckBot unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | AI features built on that search index, such as Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on top of Googlebot, also lose access to your pages. |
| Follows robots.txt | Yes |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow DuckDuckBot
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 DuckDuckBot is matched case-insensitively.
robots.txt: block
# Block DuckDuckBot
User-agent: DuckDuckBot
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow DuckDuckBot
User-agent: DuckDuckBot
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep DuckDuckBot out of private areas only
User-agent: DuckDuckBot
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to DuckDuckBot
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(DuckDuckBot)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to DuckDuckBot
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (DuckDuckBot) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "DuckDuckBot")How to verify real DuckDuckBot traffic
DuckDuckGo publishes the IP ranges that DuckDuckBot uses. A request with the DuckDuckBot user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
How to find DuckDuckBot in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts DuckDuckBot requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "DuckDuckBot" 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.
DuckDuckBot user agent string
The full user agent DuckDuckGo publishes for DuckDuckBot. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
DuckDuckBot/1.1; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckduckbot.html)DuckDuckBot FAQ
DuckDuckBot identifies itself with the robots.txt token "DuckDuckBot". A typical request header reads: DuckDuckBot/1.1; (+http://duckduckgo.com/duckduckbot.html)
Yes. DuckDuckGo states that DuckDuckBot follows robots.txt rules written for the "DuckDuckBot" token.
Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results. AI features built on that search index, such as Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on top of Googlebot, also lose access to your pages.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: DuckDuckBot" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Yes. DuckDuckGo publishes the IP ranges DuckDuckBot uses. Check the request IP against that list; a matching user agent from any other IP is an impersonator.
Search your server access log for "DuckDuckBot", for example with: grep -i "DuckDuckBot" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: DuckDuckGo 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.
