Noticed that Google Bot & Bing Bot is being stopped by Astra? It’s not what it looks like. Search engine bots are important for your website, we understand that. And bad bots are equally problematic for your website – which Astra stops.
The Google Bot:
The Google bot stopped is most likely a bad bot pretending to be a Google bot. Often, hackers program bad bots in a way that they seem like Google bots but aren’t. Astra verifies each bot from Google’s server, so if a bot is claiming to be a Google bot Astra checks the bot’s IP with Google’s servers and only lets legit Google bots scan your website.
Here are a couple URLs that would help:
- https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/80553?hl=en
- https://www.cmswire.com/cms/customer-experience/googlebot-imposters-attack-hack-and-spam-your-site-025999.php
The Bing Bot
Just like Google, hackers often make their malicious bots look like Bing Bots but in reality they aren’t. Astra verifies the authenticity of the bot coming to your website with Bing itself and only lets legit bots come to you.
You can verify the IP of Bing Bot yourself from this URL: https://www.bing.com/toolbox/verify-bingbot