Bingbot in robots.txt
Bingbot is run by Microsoft. Purpose: search. Source: Microsoft documentation.
What blocking Bingbot changes
This agent builds the index that AI search answers draw from. Blocking it can keep your pages out of those answers.
Block Bingbot
User-agent: Bingbot Disallow: /
Block Bingbot from one folder
User-agent: Bingbot Disallow: /private/
Allow Bingbot
If no group names Bingbot, it follows your "User-agent: *" rules. To allow it while other bots are blocked:
User-agent: Bingbot Allow: /
More: the guide AI crawlers in robots.txt and the AI crawler checker.
Questions
What is Bingbot?
Bingbot is the user agent token for an agent run by Microsoft. Its purpose: search. See the Microsoft documentation linked on this page.
How do I block Bingbot?
Add a group to robots.txt with "User-agent: Bingbot" and "Disallow: /". The rule applies to agents that follow robots.txt.
How do I check if my site blocks Bingbot?
Run the free check on this site. It tests your robots.txt against 8 AI agents on your homepage. The $19 deep report tests 18 agents per path.
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