Botify
Botify •
Since 2012
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is Botify?
Botify is an enterprise SEO platform designed for large websites with millions of pages. The platform combines technical SEO crawling, log file analysis, and search analytics to provide a complete picture of search performance. Botify's strength is handling massive websites that other tools struggle with, providing insights into crawl budget optimization, JavaScript rendering, and content quality at scale. The platform uses machine learning to provide predictive insights and automated recommendations, making it essential for enterprise SEO teams managing complex websites.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; botify; +https://www.botify.com)
How to Control Botify
Block Completely
To prevent Botify from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block Botify
User-agent: botify
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: botify
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: botify
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify Botify
Verification Method:
Botify crawler identification
Botify crawler identification
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect Botify in your application:
Basic Pattern
/Botify/i
Strict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; botify; \+https\://www\.botify\.com\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/Botify[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Botify.*Botify/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for Botify
function detect_botify() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/Botify/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('Botify detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for Botify
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_botify():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'Botify'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class BotifyMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for Botify
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect Botify
function detectBotify(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /Botify/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('Botify detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'Botify';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectBotify);
# Apache .htaccess rules for Botify
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Botify [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Botify [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Botify" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /Botify/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for Botify
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_botify {
default 0;
~*Botify 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_botify) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_botify) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_botify) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Optional | Evaluate based on bandwidth usage vs. benefits |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Selective | Allow for public docs, block for internal docs |
| Corporate Site | Limit | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: botify
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: botify
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: botify
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
Botify
Robots.txt Name
botify
Category
seo
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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