LinkedInBot
LinkedIn •
Since 2011
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is LinkedInBot?
LinkedInBot is LinkedIn's web crawler responsible for generating rich link previews when URLs are shared on the professional networking platform. The bot extracts metadata, images, and descriptions to create engaging previews that appear in posts, messages, and articles. For B2B content and professional publications, LinkedInBot is particularly important as LinkedIn drives significant professional traffic. The crawler reads Open Graph tags and LinkedIn-specific metadata to optimize how content appears on the platform. Proper implementation ensures content stands out in LinkedIn's professional feed.
User Agent String
LinkedInBot/1.0 (compatible; Mozilla/5.0; Apache-HttpClient +http://www.linkedin.com)
How to Control LinkedInBot
Block Completely
To prevent LinkedInBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block LinkedInBot
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: LinkedInBot
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: LinkedInBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify LinkedInBot
Verification Method:
LinkedIn Post Inspector tool
LinkedIn Post Inspector tool
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect LinkedInBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/LinkedInBot/i
Strict Pattern
/^LinkedInBot/1\.0 \(compatible; Mozilla/5\.0; Apache\-HttpClient \+http\://www\.linkedin\.com\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/LinkedInBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*LinkedIn.*LinkedInBot/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for LinkedInBot
function detect_linkedinbot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/LinkedInBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('LinkedInBot 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for LinkedInBot
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_linkedinbot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'LinkedInBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class LinkedInBotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for LinkedInBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect LinkedInBot
function detectLinkedInBot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /LinkedInBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('LinkedInBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'LinkedInBot';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectLinkedInBot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for LinkedInBot
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} LinkedInBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} LinkedInBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LinkedInBot" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /LinkedInBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for LinkedInBot
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_linkedinbot {
default 0;
~*LinkedInBot 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_linkedinbot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_linkedinbot) {
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_linkedinbot) {
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: LinkedInBot
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: LinkedInBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: LinkedInBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
LinkedInBot
Robots.txt Name
LinkedInBot
Category
social
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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