01 · Operator
Who operates DotBot
- Company
- Moz
- Type
- SEO tool crawler
- Official docs
- radar.cloudflare.com
02 · Behavior
What DotBot does
It crawls public pages and records links between websites. Moz uses this data in its Link Index and link analysis tools such as Link Explorer. Cloudflare Radar lists it as a verified SEO bot operated by Moz.
03 · Impact
Why DotBot matters for your site
If you allow it
- Your backlinks appear in Moz's link data
- Cloudflare Radar lists it as a verified bot
If you block it
- It brings no direct traffic to your site
- Competitors can use the link data
- It adds crawl load on large sites
04 · Allow
How to allow DotBot
robots.txt
User-agent: DotBot
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "DotBot")
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: DotBot
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "DotBot") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} DotBot [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block DotBot
Start with robots.txt. If DotBot keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: DotBot
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "DotBot")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: DotBot
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "DotBot") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} DotBot [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for DotBot
The user agent published by the operator:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; DotBot/1.2; +https://opensiteexplorer.org/dotbot; help@moz.com)07 · Verification
Is it really DotBot?
DotBot’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 DotBot
Who operates DotBot?
DotBot is operated by Moz. It collects data for the Moz Link Index.
How do I block DotBot?
Add a robots.txt group with User-agent: DotBot and Disallow: /. Cloudflare Radar shows this as the robots.txt rule for the bot.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026