01 · Operator
Who operates bitlybot
- Company
- Bitly
- Type
- Social preview bot
- Official docs
- support.bitly.com
02 · Behavior
What bitlybot does
When someone creates a Bitly short link, bitlybot fetches the long URL to get the page title. Bitly says it follows robots.txt and caches robots.txt for 24 hours.
03 · Impact
Why bitlybot matters for your site
If you allow it
- Shows correct titles for your Bitly links
- Low request volume
- Follows robots.txt
If you block it
- Fetches may appear as clicks in link stats
- No benefit if nobody shortens your URLs
04 · Allow
How to allow bitlybot
robots.txt
User-agent: bitlybot
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "bitlybot")
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: bitlybot
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "bitlybot") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} bitlybot [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block bitlybot
bitlybot follows robots.txt, so one rule is enough. Use a server or CDN rule only to stop spoofed copies.
robots.txt
User-agent: bitlybot
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "bitlybot")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: bitlybot
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "bitlybot") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} bitlybot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for bitlybot
The user agent published by the operator:
bitlybot/3.0 (+http://bit.ly/)07 · Verification
Is it really bitlybot?
bitlybot’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.
FAQ
Questions about bitlybot
How do I block bitlybot?
Add "User-agent: bitlybot" and "Disallow: /" to robots.txt. Bitly caches robots.txt for 24 hours, so changes take up to a day.
Why does my Bitly link show clicks before I shared it?
Bitly fetches the long URL to retrieve the page title. That fetch can register as activity.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026