What is msnbot?
msnbot is Microsoft's legacy web crawler that indexed web pages for the MSN Search engine, which has since been replaced by Bing's crawling infrastructure, though some references may still appear in logs. You can set up Agent Analytics to see when msnbot visits your website.
Category
| Example User Agent | msnbot/2.0b (+http://search.msn.com/msnbot.htm) |
| Operated By | Microsoft |
| Source | Official Website |
| Triggered By | Automated crawl |
| Used for AI Model Training | Not expected |
| Affects AI Chat & Search Visibility | Possibly |
| Expected To Follow Robots.txt | Yes |
Why Is msnbot Visiting My Website?
msnbot is adding new or changed pages to its search index. It may have discovered your site through links, a sitemap, or direct submission.
Should I Block msnbot?
No, unless you want to remove your pages from that search engine. msnbot supplies its index, so blocking it can eliminate your visibility and organic traffic there. Nearly every website should allow this category. For context, 4% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for msnbot.
How Do I Block msnbot Using Robots.txt?
Add this rule to your robots.txt file to block msnbot from accessing your website, or use Automatic Robots.txt to block all search engine crawlers at once. You can customize which pages are blocked by swapping out / for a different path.
User-agent: msnbot # https://knownagents.com/agents/msnbot
Disallow: /Insights for msnbot
As of October 30, 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 Compliance
Country of Origin
Robots.txt Blocked Percentage
Frequently Asked Questions
What Traffic Patterns Should I Expect From msnbot?
msnbot follows an algorithmic schedule shaped by your site's popularity, update cadence, and domain authority. It generally spreads requests across recurring crawl passes, throttles itself to limit server load, and respects crawl rules more reliably than most other bots.
Does msnbot Follow Robots.txt Rules?
msnbot is expected to follow robots.txt rules, so a disallow rule is the appropriate first step if you want to block it. Automatic Robots.txt can add and maintain that rule, while Agent Analytics lets you verify whether msnbot respects it.
Is msnbot Used for AI Model Training?
Not ordinarily. msnbot is not categorized as an AI training scraper or data provider, so AI model training is not its expected purpose.
Does Blocking msnbot Affect AI Search or Citations?
Blocking msnbot can remove your pages from the search engine it supplies. That may also affect AI products that rely on the same index, but it does not directly control unrelated AI search services.
Does msnbot Access Private Content?
No special access. msnbot can reach only content available to anonymous visitors and does not sign in. Make sure sensitive content is not public by mistake.
How Can I Verify a Request From msnbot?
Agent Analytics tracks msnbot visits in real time. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "msnbot". Look for recurring passes that revisit changed pages and discover new ones. Because msnbot does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.
How Is msnbot Different From Other Microsoft Agents?
Microsoft operates separate agents for different purposes, so each agent should be evaluated and controlled independently.
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