Log in
Sign up with Google

Search engine crawler · Yandex

YandexRCA is Yandex’s search engine crawler

YandexRCA is a Yandex robot that collects data for page previews.

Verifiable operator Ignores robots.txt

Our take

Allow

Previews can make your links more visible.

User agent

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexRCA/1.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)

01 · Operator

Who operates YandexRCA

Company
Yandex
Official docs
yandex.com

02 · Behavior

What YandexRCA does

YandexRCA fetches pages to collect data for generating previews. Yandex states that it does not follow robots.txt.

03 · Impact

Why YandexRCA matters for your site

If you allow it

  • Builds previews of your pages

If you block it

  • Ignores robots.txt

04 · Allow

How to allow YandexRCA

robots.txt

User-agent: YandexRCA
Allow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "YandexRCA")
Action:     Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules

# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.

WordPress

# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: YandexRCA
Allow: /

nginx

# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "YandexRCA") { return 403; }

Apache

# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} YandexRCA [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]

05 · Block

How to block YandexRCA

YandexRCA has been reported to ignore robots.txt. Block it at your CDN or web server as well.

robots.txt

# YandexRCA has been reported to ignore robots.txt.
# Add a Cloudflare, nginx or Apache rule as well.
User-agent: YandexRCA
Disallow: /

Cloudflare

# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "YandexRCA")
Action:     Block

WordPress

# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: YandexRCA
Disallow: /

nginx

# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "YandexRCA") {
    return 403;
}

Apache

# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} YandexRCA [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>

06 · User agents

User agents we see for YandexRCA

The user agent published by the operator:

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexRCA/1.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)

07 · Verification

Is it really YandexRCA?

Anyone can copy a user agent. A reverse DNS lookup of a real request resolves to yandex.ru</code>, <code>yandex.net</code>, <code>yandex.com, and that hostname resolves back to the same IP.

FAQ

Questions about YandexRCA

Does YandexRCA respect robots.txt?

No. Yandex documents that YandexRCA does not follow robots.txt rules.

How do I block YandexRCA?

Because it ignores robots.txt, you must block it by user agent on your server or firewall.

How can I verify that YandexRCA is really from Yandex?

Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP. The hostname must end in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, and a forward lookup must return the same IP.

Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026

Your site

See which pages YandexRCA crawls on your website

Log Hero reads your server logs and shows every AI bot, every page, every day.

Sign up with Google

Free during early access