WBSearchBot
Webmaster Brian •
Since 2012
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is WBSearchBot?
WBSearchBot is operated by WebmasterBrain, a lesser-known search and SEO analysis service. The bot crawls websites to build search indices and provide SEO insights. While not as prominent as major SEO tools, WebmasterBrain offers various webmaster tools and search functionality. The crawler respects robots.txt and focuses on understanding website structure and content for both search and SEO analysis purposes.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; WBSearchBot/1.1; +http://www.webmasterbrain.com/bot/)
How to Control WBSearchBot
Block Completely
To prevent WBSearchBot from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block WBSearchBot
User-agent: WBSearchBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: WBSearchBot
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: WBSearchBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify WBSearchBot
Verification Method:
Check user agent string
Check user agent string
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect WBSearchBot in your application:
Basic Pattern
/WBSearchBot/i
Strict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; WBSearchBot/1\.1; \+http\://www\.webmasterbrain\.com/bot/\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/WBSearchBot[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Webmaster Brian.*WBSearchBot/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for WBSearchBot
function detect_wbsearchbot() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/WBSearchBot/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('WBSearchBot 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for WBSearchBot
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_wbsearchbot():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'WBSearchBot'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class WBSearchBotMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for WBSearchBot
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect WBSearchBot
function detectWBSearchBot(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /WBSearchBot/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('WBSearchBot detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'WBSearchBot';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectWBSearchBot);
# Apache .htaccess rules for WBSearchBot
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} WBSearchBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} WBSearchBot [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WBSearchBot" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /WBSearchBot/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for WBSearchBot
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_wbsearchbot {
default 0;
~*WBSearchBot 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_wbsearchbot) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_wbsearchbot) {
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_wbsearchbot) {
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: WBSearchBot
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: WBSearchBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: WBSearchBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
WBSearchBot
Robots.txt Name
WBSearchBot
Category
seo
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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