01 · Operator
Who operates Embedly
- Company
- Embedly (Medium)
- Type
- Social preview bot
- Official docs
- knownagents.com
02 · Behavior
What Embedly does
It fetches a page when a site or app using Embedly needs a preview or embed. It reads page metadata such as title, description and images. The result is shown as a link card or embedded media.
03 · Impact
Why Embedly matters for your site
If you allow it
- Enables rich previews of your links
- Used by Medium and other sites
If you block it
- No direct search visibility
- Cannot be verified by IP or DNS
04 · Allow
How to allow Embedly
robots.txt
User-agent: Embedly
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Embedly")
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: Embedly
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "Embedly") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Embedly [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block Embedly
Start with robots.txt. If Embedly keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: Embedly
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Embedly")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: Embedly
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "Embedly") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Embedly [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for Embedly
The user agent published by the operator:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Embedly/0.2; +http://support.embed.ly/)07 · Verification
Is it really Embedly?
Embedly’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 Embedly
What is the Embedly user agent?
It is the fetcher of Embedly, which creates link previews and embeds. It identifies as Embedly/0.2.
Who owns Embedly?
Medium acquired Embedly in 2016, according to Wikipedia.
Should I block Embedly?
Usually not. Blocking it can break link previews of your pages on sites that use Embedly.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026