Who blocks AI · #853 in the Majestic Million

robots.txt · checked 9 Nov 2026

Does bu.edu block AI crawlers?

Yes. bu.edu’s robots.txt blocks 1 of the 19 AI crawlers we track, including GoogleOther. Search engines such as Googlebot and Bingbot may crawl it.

GPTBotPartly blocked OAI-SearchBotAllowed ClaudeBotPartly blocked PerplexityBotAllowed Google-ExtendedAllowed CCBotPartly blocked

robots.txt: www.bu.edu/robots.txt · 254 lines
llms.txt: none
Checked: 9 November 2026, as canaicrawl. We check again every week.

Every bot, and the line that decides

Search engines

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`Googlebot`	Google	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Bingbot`	Microsoft	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`DuckDuckBot`	DuckDuckGo	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Applebot`	Apple	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`PetalBot`	Huawei	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`YandexBot`	Yandex	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`Baiduspider`	Baidu	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more

AI search

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`OAI-SearchBot`	OpenAI	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`PerplexityBot`	Perplexity	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Claude-SearchBot`	Anthropic	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`DuckAssistBot`	DuckDuckGo	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Amazonbot`	Amazon	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`YouBot`	You.com	Allowed	no rule matches the home page

AI training

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`GPTBot`	OpenAI	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`ClaudeBot`	Anthropic	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`Google-Extended`	Google	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`CCBot`	Common Crawl	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`Applebot-Extended`	Apple	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`GoogleOther`	Google	Blocked	line 253 · `Disallow: /` under `User-agent: GoogleOther`
`Meta-ExternalAgent`	Meta	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more
`Bytespider`	ByteDance	Partly blocked	line 241 · `Disallow: //calendar/` line 242 · `Disallow: //events/` and 1 more

User-triggered fetchers

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`ChatGPT-User`	OpenAI	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Claude-User`	Anthropic	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Perplexity-User`	Perplexity	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`MistralAI-User`	Mistral	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`Meta-ExternalFetcher`	Meta	Allowed	no rule matches the home page

SEO tools

Bot	Operator	robots.txt	Deciding line
`AhrefsBot`	Ahrefs	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`SemrushBot`	Semrush	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`MJ12bot`	Majestic	Allowed	no rule matches the home page
`DotBot`	Moz	Allowed	no rule matches the home page

View www.bu.edu/robots.txt · 254 lines

1# Directions for robots. See this URL:

2# http://info.webcrawler.com/mak/projects/robots/norobots.html

3# for a description of the file format.

4# 2008-08-21

5#####

6# Here is where we override the default action

8## Due to a bug in linklint, must first specify a disallow in order for

9## for all other directories to be allowed. Feel free to add other

10## disallows below the first disallow line.

12User-agent: LinkLint

13Disallow: /workaroundForLinkLintRandomDirForConfig/

15#####

16# Allow W3C link Validator for /dev/ and /nisdev/

17# skipping other dynamic content or private areas

18# 2004-08-27 gaudette

19#

20User-agent: W3C-checklink

21Disallow: /cms/

22Disallow: /cgi-bin/

23Disallow: /htbin/

24Disallow: /htbin.ph/

25Disallow: /BUbin/

26Disallow: /bubin/

27Disallow: /testing/

28Disallow: /TESTING/

29Disallow: /IT/SoftwareDist/

30Disallow: /it/SoftwareDist/

31Disallow: /software/

32Disallow: /SOFTWARE/

33Disallow: /IT/new/

34Disallow: /it/new/

35Disallow: /nis/

36Disallow: /nishd/

37Disallow: /library/working/

38Disallow: /library/WORKING/

39Disallow: /reports/

40Disallow: /bulletins/work/

41Disallow: /admissions/test/

42Disallow: /cas/oldsite/

43Disallow: /MPA/

44Disallow: /finaid/test/

45Disallow: /naitest/

46Disallow: /newswire/

47Disallow: /practice/

48Disallow: /providers/

49Disallow: /stats/

50Disallow: /usc/test/

51Disallow: /webcentral/output/

52Disallow: /webmail/

53Disallow: /alumni/portfolio/

54Disallow: /dev/

56#####

57# default action - currently it allows access to most of the site

58# skipping dynamic content or private areas

59#

60User-agent: gsa-crawler

61Disallow: /cgi-bin/

62Disallow: /cms/

63Disallow: /htbin/

64Disallow: /htbin.ph/

65Disallow: /BUbin/

66Disallow: /bubin/

67Disallow: /testing/

68Disallow: /TESTING/

69Disallow: /IT/SoftwareDist/

70Disallow: /it/SoftwareDist/

71Disallow: /software/

72Disallow: /SOFTWARE/

73Disallow: /IT/new/

74Disallow: /it/new/

75Disallow: /library/working/

76Disallow: /library/WORKING/

77Disallow: /reports/

78Disallow: /nisdev/

79Disallow: /bulletins/work/

80Disallow: /admissions/test/

81Disallow: /cas/oldsite/

82Disallow: /MPA/

83Disallow: /finaid/test/

84Disallow: /naitest/

85Disallow: /newswire/

86Disallow: /practice/

87Disallow: /providers/

88Disallow: /stats/

89Disallow: /usc/test/

90Disallow: /webcentral/output/

91Disallow: /webmail/

92Disallow: /alumni/portfolio/

93Disallow: /dbin/dos/ocs/

94Disallow: /dev/

95Disallow: /wbur/arts/

96Disallow: /wbur/connection/

97Disallow: /wbur/herenow/

98Disallow: /wbur/livingonearth/

99Disallow: /wbur/miscellaneous/

100Disallow: /wbur/onpoint/

101Disallow: /wbur/special_projects_unit/

102Disallow: /wbur/wburnews/

103Disallow: /wbur/woi/

104Disallow: /link/

105Disallow: /home-media/

106# BUniverse exclusions added by kgrin on 2010-04-26

107Disallow: /buniverse/add/

108Disallow: /buniverse/admin/

109Disallow: /buniverse/buniverse1/

110Disallow: /buniverse/contact/

111Disallow: /buniverse/cron/

112Disallow: /buniverse/data/

113Disallow: /buniverse/delete/

114Disallow: /buniverse/edit/

115Disallow: /buniverse/embed/

116Disallow: /buniverse/login/

117Disallow: /buniverse/logout/

118Disallow: /buniverse/messages/

119Disallow: /buniverse/my-videos/

120Disallow: /buniverse/search/

121Disallow: /buniverse/support/

122Disallow: /buniverse/util/

123Disallow: /buniverse/viewed/

124Disallow: /buniverse/vote/

125Disallow: /buniverse/youtube/

126Disallow: /summer/archive/

127

128###

129# Emergency change 2012-02-14 bfenster, in response to incident

130User-agent: 008

131Disallow: /

132

133###

134# Emergency change 2014-11-17 bfenster, in response to incident

135User-agent: Netsparker

136Disallow: /

137

138

139#####

140# default action - currently it allows access to most of the site

141# skipping dynamic content or private areas

142#

143User-agent: *

144Disallow: /cms/

145Disallow: /cgi-bin/

146Disallow: /htbin/

147Disallow: /htbin.ph/

148Disallow: /BUbin/

149Disallow: /bubin/

150Disallow: /testing/

151Disallow: /TESTING/

152Disallow: /IT/SoftwareDist/

153Disallow: /it/SoftwareDist/

154Disallow: /software/

155Disallow: /SOFTWARE/

156Disallow: /IT/new/

157Disallow: /it/new/

158Disallow: /nis/

159Disallow: /library/working/

160Disallow: /library/WORKING/

161Disallow: /reports/

162Disallow: /nisdev/

163Disallow: /bulletins/work/

164Disallow: /admissions/test/

165Disallow: /cas/oldsite/

166Disallow: /MPA/

167Disallow: /finaid/test/

168Disallow: /naitest/

169Disallow: /newswire/

170Disallow: /practice/

171Disallow: /providers/

172Disallow: /stats/

173Disallow: /usc/test/

174Disallow: /webcentral/output/

175Disallow: /webmail/

176Disallow: /alumni/portfolio/

177Disallow: /dbin/dos/ocs/

178Disallow: /dev/

179Disallow: /wbur/arts/

180Disallow: /wbur/connection/

181Disallow: /wbur/herenow/

182Disallow: /wbur/livingonearth/

183Disallow: /wbur/miscellaneous/

184Disallow: /wbur/onpoint/

185Disallow: /wbur/special_projects_unit/

186Disallow: /wbur/wburnews/

187Disallow: /wbur/woi/

188Disallow: /link/

189Disallow: /home-media/

190# BUniverse exclusions added by kgrin on 2010-04-21

191Disallow: /buniverse/add/

192Disallow: /buniverse/admin/

193Disallow: /buniverse/buniverse1/

194Disallow: /buniverse/contact/

195Disallow: /buniverse/cron/

196Disallow: /buniverse/data/

197Disallow: /buniverse/delete/

198Disallow: /buniverse/edit/

199Disallow: /buniverse/embed/

200Disallow: /buniverse/login/

201Disallow: /buniverse/logout/

202Disallow: /buniverse/messages/

203Disallow: /buniverse/my-videos/

204Disallow: /buniverse/search/

205Disallow: /buniverse/support/

206Disallow: /buniverse/util/

207Disallow: /buniverse/viewed/

208Disallow: /buniverse/vote/

209Disallow: /buniverse/youtube/

210# academics/summer archive exclusions added by kgrin on 2011-07-17

211Disallow: /academics/archive/

212Disallow: /summer/archive/

213# Calendar date-pagination query space (infinite URL space) added 2026-06-11 dcrews

214Disallow: /*/calendar/?*

215Disallow: /*/events/?*

216Crawl-delay: 15

217

218#####

219# Calendar/events crawl rules added 2026-06-11 dcrews

220# Context: automated crawlers generate >40% of WordPress calendar page

221# renders (1.15M/day total), driving DB connection-pool storms.

222# Scope: training/bulk crawlers + secondary search engines. User-triggered and search-index

223# agents (Claude-User, Claude-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, OAI-SearchBot,

224# PerplexityBot, Googlebot, bingbot) are deliberately NOT listed here.

225#

226# NOTE: per robots.txt spec, a named User-agent group REPLACES the

227# "*" group for that bot (no inheritance). These named groups are

228# intentionally calendar/events-only.

229

230User-agent: ClaudeBot

231User-agent: GPTBot

232User-agent: CCBot

233User-agent: meta-externalagent

234User-agent: Bytespider

235User-agent: YisouSpider

236User-agent: Baiduspider

237User-agent: YandexBot

238User-agent: Applebot

239User-agent: Amazonbot

240User-agent: Sogou web spider

241Disallow: /*/calendar/

242Disallow: /*/events/

243Disallow: /phpbin/calendar/

244Crawl-delay: 15

245

246#####

247# GoogleOther rule added 2026-10-19 dcrews

248# GoogleOther is Google's generic crawler for product-team and research crawls;

249# rules addressed to it do not affect Google Search (Googlebot). It is blocked

250# because it re-crawls retired document URLs: ~26k WordPress requests/day, 61% 404s.

251#

252User-agent: GoogleOther

253Disallow: /

254

What do the bots actually get?

This page reads robots.txt, which states what bu.edu asks of crawlers. A firewall or CDN can still refuse a bot that robots.txt allows. The live check requests the page as each bot and shows the status it gets.

Run a live check on bu.edu Test a path in the robots.txt tester

History

19 October 2026: first checked.
26 October 2026: started blocking GoogleOther.

Questions

Does bu.edu block GPTBot?

Partly. bu.edu’s robots.txt keeps GPTBot out of some paths, such as /*/calendar/, and lets it crawl the rest. GPTBot is OpenAI’s crawler for training data; blocking it doesn’t affect ChatGPT search, which uses OAI-SearchBot. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does bu.edu block ClaudeBot?

Partly. bu.edu’s robots.txt keeps ClaudeBot out of some paths, such as /*/calendar/, and lets it crawl the rest. ClaudeBot is Anthropic’s crawler for training data. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does bu.edu block Google-Extended?

No. bu.edu’s robots.txt lets Google-Extended crawl the site. Google-Extended is the token that controls whether Google may use pages for Gemini training and grounding; it doesn’t affect Google Search. Checked 9 November 2026.

Does bu.edu block PerplexityBot?

No. bu.edu’s robots.txt lets PerplexityBot crawl the site. PerplexityBot is the crawler that indexes pages for Perplexity’s answers. Checked 9 November 2026.

Can ChatGPT search find bu.edu?

Yes. bu.edu’s robots.txt lets OAI-SearchBot crawl the site. OAI-SearchBot is the crawler behind ChatGPT search; blocking it keeps the site out of ChatGPT’s search answers. Checked 9 November 2026.