What is DataForSEO?
DataForSEO is an SEO crawler operated by DataForSEO. You can set up Agent Analytics to see when DataForSEO visits your website.
Overview
| Operated By | DataForSEO |
| Expected To Follow Robots.txt | Yes |
| Insights Last Updated | September 14, 2026 |
Do you operate this agent? Contact us to suggest an update.
Category
Expected Behavior
DataForSEO usually performs comprehensive, link-following crawls rather than spot checks. Visit frequency may rise while a customer actively monitors your site or a related market.
DataForSEO's User Agent
| User Agent | RankMath Link Checker/1.0 (+https://dataforseo.com) |
How To Block DataForSEO With Robots.txt
Add this rule to your robots.txt file to block DataForSEO from accessing your website, or use Automatic Robots.txt to block all SEO crawlers at once. You can customize which pages are blocked by swapping out / for a different path.
User-agent: DataForSEO # https://knownagents.com/agents/dataforseo
Disallow: /Insights for DataForSEO
As of September 14, 2026, this data reflects agent visits measured across thousands of websites using Agent Analytics, combined with daily scans of the top 1000 websites and their robots.txt files.
Robots.txt Blocked Percentage
Country of Origin
Robots.txt Blocking Trend
6% of top websites block DataForSEO in their robots.txts.
Overall SEO Crawler Traffic
1.7% of all web traffic came from SEO crawlers.
Frequently Asked Questions
Should I Block DataForSEO?
Consider blocking DataForSEO only if you do not want your pages included in SEO databases. It does not influence how search engines rank you, and blocking it will not hide backlinks to your site because those are discovered on the linking sites. For context, 6% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for DataForSEO.
Does DataForSEO Follow Robots.txt Rules?
Yes. DataForSEO is expected to follow robots.txt rules, so a disallow rule is the appropriate first step. Automatic Robots.txt can add and maintain that rule, while Agent Analytics lets you verify whether DataForSEO respects it.
Does DataForSEO Access Private Content?
No. DataForSEO can reach only public pages, and authentication prevents it from accessing private content.
How Can I Tell if DataForSEO Is Visiting My Website?
Agent Analytics tracks DataForSEO visits in real time. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "DataForSEO". Look for comprehensive site crawls that follow internal links. Because DataForSEO does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.
Why Is DataForSEO Visiting My Website?
Your domain appears in the ranking, backlink, or competitor data maintained by DataForSEO's operator. A customer may be tracking your site, one of your competitors, or a backlink that connects another site to yours.