Bots are a common occurrence on the web. They crawl websites in order to index them for search engines, or to extract data for other purposes. While bots can be helpful, they can also be a nuisance if they start crawling your site without your permission.
In this blog post, I will discuss what bots are, how they crawl your site, and how you can block them from doing so.
What bots are and how they crawl your site
Bots are programs that automatically crawl websites. They are typically used by search engines to index websites for their search results. However, bots can also be used for other purposes, such as extracting data from websites.
There are two main types of bots: web crawlers and web scrapers.
Web crawlers crawl websites in order to index them for search engines.
Web scrapers extract data from websites for other purposes, such as monitoring prices or gathering contact information.
What is the difference between bad bots and Google bots?
Bad bots are programs that crawl websites without the permission of the website owner. They can be used for a variety of malicious purposes, such as stealing information or spamming websites.
Google bots are programs that crawl websites on behalf of Google. They are used to index websites for Google’s search results. You do not want to block the Google bots, as they are necessary for your website to be indexed by Google.
How can bad bots can cause bandwidth overages?
Bad bots can cause bandwidth overages by crawling your website excessively. This can happen if a bad bot is programmed to crawl your site more often than it should, or if it is not configured properly and ends up crawling your site too frequently.
How can bad bots throw off Google Analytics?
Bad bots can throw off Google Analytics by generating fake traffic. This can happen if a bot is programmed to visit your website multiple times, or if it crawls your site more often than it should.
How do you know if you have a problem with bad bots?
There are a few signs that you may have a problem with bad bots:
- You notice unusual spikes in your website’s traffic
- Your website’s bandwidth usage is abnormally high
- You find that your server resources are being used excessively
- You receive complaints from visitors about spam or other malicious activity on your website
How to block bots from crawling your site
To block bots from crawling your site, you can use a robots.txt file. This file tells bots which pages they are allowed to crawl and which they are not.
You can also use a WordPress plugin like iThemes Security to help you block bots from crawling your site.
Also, I recommend using a CAPTCHA on forms to prevent bots from submitting them. It won’t prevent it completely, but it they do help cut down on some of the spam entries.
Bots can be a nuisance if they start crawling your site without your permission. However, there are ways to prevent them from doing so. By using a robots.txt file and a tool like the Bad Bot Blocker
