Safe AI & LLM Bots

Linkup Search

Operated by Linkup

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
LinkupBot
Category:
AI & LLM Bots
Operator:
Linkup
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:
2/10
Official docs:
www.linkup.so

What is Linkup Search?

Linkup Search is an on-demand AI fetcher operated by Linkup. It retrieves a page only when a user explicitly asks an AI assistant or agent to read, summarize, or act on a specific URL. Because it is triggered by real user intent rather than bulk crawling, blocking it mainly prevents users from pulling your content into Linkup's assistant.

Linkup Search is an on-demand AI fetcher operated by Linkup. It retrieves a page only when a user explicitly asks an AI assistant or agent to read, summarize, or act on a specific URL. Because it is triggered by real user intent rather than bulk crawling, blocking it mainly prevents users from pulling your content into Linkup's assistant. Linkup Search uses the user-agent token LinkupBot. 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 Linkup Search?

✅ **No SEO Impact** - Blocking Linkup Search does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. Linkup Search 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 Linkup Search with robots.txt

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

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: LinkupBot Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: LinkupBot Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: LinkupBot Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block Linkup Search if ($http_user_agent ~* "LinkupBot") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block Linkup Search SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LinkupBot" 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 Linkup Search safe to allow?

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

What does Linkup Search do?

Understanding Linkup Search's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

  • Fetches a page only when a user asks an AI assistant to read it
  • Summarizes or extracts the URL the user provided
  • Triggered by real user intent, not bulk crawling
  • Low traffic volume compared with training crawlers
  • Blocking it prevents users from pulling your content into the assistant

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for Linkup Search?
The official user-agent string for Linkup Search is: LinkupBot. 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 Linkup Search by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP.
Is Linkup Search safe?
Yes, Linkup Search is a **safe and legitimate** crawler operated by Linkup. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Will blocking Linkup Search hurt my SEO?
✅ **No SEO Impact** - Blocking Linkup Search does not affect your rankings in Google, Bing, or any other search engine. Linkup Search 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 Linkup Search in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file: 
User-agent: LinkupBot
Disallow: /
This instructs Linkup Search not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does Linkup Search respect robots.txt?
Linkup Search is operated by Linkup 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 Linkup Search is crawling my site?
Search your web server access logs for the string LinkupBot (case-insensitive: grep -i "LinkupBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Filter by user-agent in your log analytics tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

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