LinkedInBot user agent
Operated by LinkedIn
LinkedInBot is the fetcher LinkedIn uses to build link previews in posts and messages.
The LinkedInBot bot at a glance
- LinkedInBot is operated by LinkedIn and reads page titles, descriptions and images to build link previews.
- The robots.txt token for LinkedInBot is LinkedInBot.
- Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings.
- LinkedInBot robots.txt support: Not documented.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is LinkedInBot?
LinkedInBot reads the title, description and image of a shared page so LinkedIn can show a preview card.
Pages blocked for LinkedInBot are shared on LinkedIn as a bare link without an image.
Should you block LinkedInBot?
Allow LinkedInBot unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not documented |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow LinkedInBot
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 LinkedInBot is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop LinkedInBot, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block LinkedInBot
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow LinkedInBot
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep LinkedInBot out of private areas only
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to LinkedInBot
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(LinkedInBot)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to LinkedInBot
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (LinkedInBot) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "LinkedInBot")How to verify real LinkedInBot traffic
LinkedIn publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for LinkedInBot, 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 LinkedInBot in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts LinkedInBot requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "LinkedInBot" 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.
LinkedInBot user agent string
The full user agent LinkedIn publishes for LinkedInBot. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
LinkedInBot/1.0 (compatible; Mozilla/5.0; Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.1 +http://www.linkedin.com)LinkedInBot FAQ
LinkedInBot identifies itself with the robots.txt token "LinkedInBot". A typical request header reads: LinkedInBot/1.0 (compatible; Mozilla/5.0; Jakarta Commons-HttpClient/3.1 +http://www.linkedin.com)
LinkedIn has not documented how LinkedInBot treats robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule and back it with a server rule if the traffic matters to you.
Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: LinkedInBot" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. LinkedIn publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for LinkedInBot, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "LinkedInBot", for example with: grep -i "LinkedInBot" 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.
