Yandex
Yandex •
Since 1997
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is Yandex?
YandexBot is the web crawler for Yandex, Russia's largest search engine and technology company. Serving primarily Russian-speaking users, YandexBot indexes content in multiple languages with a focus on Russian and Eastern European websites. The crawler supports modern web standards, JavaScript rendering, and respects international robots.txt conventions. Yandex uses this crawler not just for search but also for various services including Yandex.Maps, Yandex.Images, and their AI initiatives. For websites targeting Russian-speaking audiences, YandexBot is crucial for visibility in these markets.
User Agent String
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexBot/3.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)
How to Control Yandex
Block Completely
To prevent Yandex from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block Yandex
User-agent: YandexBot
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: YandexBot
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: YandexBot
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify Yandex
Verification Method:
Reverse DNS to yandex.ru or yandex.net
Reverse DNS to yandex.ru or yandex.net
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect Yandex in your application:
Basic Pattern
/Yandex/i
Strict Pattern
/^Mozilla/5\.0 \(compatible; YandexBot/3\.0; \+http\://yandex\.com/bots\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/Yandex[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Yandex.*Yandex/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for Yandex
function detect_yandex() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/Yandex/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('Yandex 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($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for Yandex
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_yandex():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'Yandex'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class YandexMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for Yandex
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect Yandex
function detectYandex(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /Yandex/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('Yandex detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'Yandex';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectYandex);
# Apache .htaccess rules for Yandex
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Yandex [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Yandex [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Yandex" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /Yandex/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for Yandex
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_yandex {
default 0;
~*Yandex 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_yandex) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_yandex) {
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_yandex) {
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 | Allow | Essential for product visibility in search results |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Allow | Improves documentation discoverability for developers |
| Corporate Site | Allow | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: YandexBot
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: YandexBot
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: YandexBot
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
Yandex
Robots.txt Name
YandexBot
Category
search
Respects robots.txt
Yes
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