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meta-webindexer

Crawls web content to provide search results for Meta AI users.
meta-webindexer
AI CrawlerAI Assistant

What is meta-webindexer?

meta-webindexer is an AI crawler that collects web content to provide search results for Meta AI users.

The pages it collects can shape what large language models learn about your brand. If you allow it, AI systems have more of your own material to draw on when they describe or recommend you. If you block it, your content stays out of training data. Both are reasonable choices, but you can only make the choice deliberately if you know the crawler is visiting.

Generative engine optimization starts with knowing which AI crawlers and agents reach your site and what they request. Our guides to AI crawlers and robots.txt explain how to control automated access.

Promptwatch turns your server and CDN logs into a live view of AI crawler and agent traffic. You can watch ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and others crawl your pages, and connect those visits to citations and revenue. Learn more in AI crawler logs.

See every AI bot hitting your site

Promptwatch turns your server and CDN logs into a live view of AI crawler and agent traffic. Watch ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Gemini, and more crawl your pages in real time, see exactly what they take, and connect every crawl to the citations and revenue it drives.

How to handle meta-webindexer

The decision comes down to whether you want your content used by AI systems. If you don't, block meta-webindexer with a rule for its user agent in robots.txt:

User-agent: meta-webindexer
Disallow: /

If you're comfortable with AI systems using your content, leave it allowed. meta-webindexer generally honors robots.txt directives either way.

Examples

  • A publisher reviews server logs, sees meta-webindexer requesting long-form articles, and decides whether to allow or disallow it in robots.txt.
  • A site owner adds a Disallow rule for meta-webindexer to keep premium guides out of AI training datasets.

Related bots

AI2Bot

AI2Bot is operated by the Allen Institute for Artificial Intelligence (Ai2) to crawl the web for content to train open-source AI models.

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aiHitBot

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Amazonbot

Amazonbot is Amazon's web crawler used to improve our services, such as enabling Alexa to more accurately answer questions for customers.

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Applebot

Applebot powers search features in Apple's ecosystem (Spotlight, Siri, Safari) and may be used to train Apple's foundation models for generative AI features.

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Atlassian Rovo

Crawls and indexes web content for Atlassian Rovo's AI-powered search, chat, and agents.

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Frequently asked questions about meta-webindexer

Learn about AI visibility monitoring and how Promptwatch helps your brand succeed in AI search.

The operator is named in the crawler's user-agent string and public documentation.

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