Safe AI & LLM Bots

AddSearch AI

Operated by AddSearch

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
AddSearchBot
Category:
AI & LLM Bots
Operator:
AddSearch
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:
2/10
Official docs:
www.addsearch.com

What is AddSearch AI?

AddSearch AI is an AI search-index crawler operated by AddSearch. It collects and indexes web content so it can be surfaced as citations or answers inside AddSearch's AI search experience. Allowing AddSearch AI can increase your visibility in AI-powered search results, which is why most sites choose to permit it.

AddSearch AI is an AI search-index crawler operated by AddSearch. It collects and indexes web content so it can be surfaced as citations or answers inside AddSearch's AI search experience. Allowing AddSearch AI can increase your visibility in AI-powered search results, which is why most sites choose to permit it. AddSearch AI uses the user-agent token AddSearchBot. You can control it via robots.txt, meta tags (noai), or the emerging llms.txt standard. Robots.txt is voluntary; for hard enforcement, combine it with server-level IP blocking.

What happens if you block AddSearch AI?

✅ **No SEO Impact** - Blocking AddSearch AI does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. AddSearch AI is an AI crawler, not a traditional search indexer. You can freely block it via User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.
Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.

How to block AddSearch AI with robots.txt

<code>User-agent: AddSearchBot</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: AddSearchBot Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: AddSearchBot Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: AddSearchBot Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block AddSearch AI if ($http_user_agent ~* "AddSearchBot") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block AddSearch AI SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "AddSearchBot" bad_bot Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Deny from env=bad_bot
Meta robots tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
X-Robots-Tag header
X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is AddSearch AI safe to allow?

Yes, AddSearch AI is a **safe and legitimate** crawler operated by AddSearch. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Verify by reverse-DNS lookup: legitimate AddSearch AI requests resolve to AddSearch's domain.

What does AddSearch AI do?

Understanding AddSearch AI's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

  • Indexes web pages for AI-powered search answers
  • Surfaces your content as citations inside AI search results
  • Builds a knowledge index used to answer user questions
  • Allowing it can increase visibility in AI search
  • Respects robots.txt directives

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for AddSearch AI?
The official user-agent string for AddSearch AI is: AddSearchBot. Use this exact string in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. Matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive. Verify a request genuinely comes from AddSearch AI by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP.
Is AddSearch AI safe?
Yes, AddSearch AI is a **safe and legitimate** crawler operated by AddSearch. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Will blocking AddSearch AI hurt my SEO?
✅ **No SEO Impact** - Blocking AddSearch AI does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. AddSearch AI is an AI crawler, not a traditional search indexer. You can freely block it via User-agent / Disallow: / without any SEO penalty.
How do I block AddSearch AI in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file: 
User-agent: AddSearchBot
Disallow: /
This instructs AddSearch AI not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does AddSearch AI respect robots.txt?
AddSearch AI is operated by AddSearch and is expected to fetch and parse /robots.txt before crawling, following RFC 9309. For hard enforcement, combine robots.txt with server-level IP or user-agent blocking.
How do I verify if AddSearch AI is crawling my site?
Search your web server access logs for the string AddSearchBot (case-insensitive: grep -i "AddSearchBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Filter by user-agent in your log analytics tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

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