RanklystBot
RanklystBot is the web crawler behind Ranklyst, a tool that audits websites for SEO, GEO and AEO. If you saw it in your server logs, this page explains what it is, what it does and how to control it.
How to identify RanklystBot
Every request carries this user agent:
RanklystBot/1.0 (+https://ranklyst.net/bot)Only when someone requests a Ranklyst audit of your domain. It does not roam the web or crawl sites on its own.
Once per audit request, not on a schedule.
Up to 12 pages per audit, plus your robots.txt and sitemap files.
One request at a time, with a pause of about half a second between pages.
What RanklystBot does
- Identifies itself with the user agent above on every request.
- Reads your robots.txt first and skips any path you disallow for RanklystBot (or for all crawlers).
- Uses your sitemap to find your most important pages, and falls back to links on your homepage.
- Reads public page details: title, meta description, headings, structured data, links and visible text.
- Gives up on a request after 10 seconds and follows at most 5 redirects.
- Is built to fetch public web addresses only.
What RanklystBot does not do
- Log in, fill in forms or submit anything.
- Run JavaScript, so it only sees what your server returns.
- Crawl more than 12 pages of your site per audit.
- Fetch paths that your robots.txt disallows for it.
- Build a search index or publish your page content.
How to allow or block RanklystBot
RanklystBot follows your robots.txt file. Rules written for RanklystBot apply to us; if there are none, the rules for User-agent: * apply.
Block RanklystBot from your whole site
User-agent: RanklystBot
Disallow: /Block only certain sections
User-agent: RanklystBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /admin- Rules are matched as plain path prefixes. Wildcards (* and $) and Allow lines are not used.
- Changes apply from the next audit request.
- If you block your whole site, an audit of your domain cannot be completed.
What happens to what RanklystBot reads
Public page content is analysed to produce the audit report for the person who requested it. Excerpts of page text are sent to AI model providers to write that report. We keep the address, title and word count of each reviewed page with the report, and we do not publish your page content. For details, see our Privacy Policy.
Frequently asked questions
Is RanklystBot a search engine crawler?
No. It does not index the web or build a search index. It only visits a website when someone requests a Ranklyst audit of that domain.
Will RanklystBot slow down my website?
Unlikely. It makes one request at a time with a short pause between pages, and it fetches at most 12 pages per audit.
How can I stop RanklystBot from visiting my site?
Add a Disallow rule for RanklystBot to your robots.txt file, as shown above. The change applies from the next audit request.
Why did RanklystBot visit my website?
Someone requested a Ranklyst audit of your domain. If you did not expect this or have concerns, contact us and include your domain name.
Does RanklystBot have a fixed IP address?
No. It runs on shared cloud infrastructure, so we do not publish an IP range. Identify it by the user agent string shown on this page.
Questions or concerns?
Tell us your domain name and what you saw in your logs, and we will get back to you.