Published on 2025-08-07T06:18:08Z

AlexandriaOrgBot

AlexandriaOrgBot is the official web crawler for the Alexandria.org search engine. It operates as a traditional search bot, systematically scanning and indexing public web pages to build a searchable database of content. For website owners, being indexed by AlexandriaOrgBot can increase visibility and potentially drive traffic from users of the Alexandria.org search platform.

What is AlexandriaOrgBot?

AlexandriaOrgBot is the designated web crawler for the search engine at Alexandria.org. It functions like a typical search bot, systematically browsing the web to discover and catalog content for its search index. The bot identifies itself in server logs with the user-agent string Mozilla/5.0 (Linux) (compatible; AlexandriaOrgBot/1.0; +https://www.alexandria.org/bot.html), which follows standard conventions by providing a link to its documentation page. It operates with a conservative use of resources to avoid overloading servers and follows predictable crawling patterns.

Why is AlexandriaOrgBot crawling my site?

AlexandriaOrgBot is visiting your website to discover and index your content for the Alexandria.org search results. Its goal is to make your pages findable by users of its search service. The frequency of its visits will vary depending on factors like your site's popularity, how often you update your content, and its relevance to the search index. This is considered authorized crawling behavior, similar to bots from Google or Bing, and it is designed to respect standard protocols like robots.txt directives and maintain a reasonable crawl rate.

What is the purpose of AlexandriaOrgBot?

The primary purpose of AlexandriaOrgBot is to support the Alexandria.org search engine by building and maintaining an index of web content. The data it gathers allows Alexandria to provide relevant search results to its users. For website owners, having your content indexed by a crawler like AlexandriaOrgBot can increase your site's visibility and bring in visitors who discover you through the Alexandria search platform. Its goal is to create a comprehensive, up-to-date index of web content to improve its search quality, rather than scraping data for commercial purposes or training AI models.

How do I block AlexandriaOrgBot?

To prevent AlexandriaOrgBot from crawling your website, you should add a rule to your robots.txt file. This file instructs web crawlers which parts of your site they can or cannot access.

To block AlexandriaOrgBot, add the following lines to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: AlexandriaOrgBot
Disallow: /

How to verify the authenticity of the user-agent operated by Alexandria.org?

Reverse IP lookup technique

To verify user-agent authenticity, you can use host linux command two times with the IP address of the requester.
  1. > host IPAddressOfRequest
    This command returns the reverse lookup hostname (e.g., 4.4.8.8.in-addr.arpa.). 
  2. > host ReverseDNSFromTheOutputOfFirstRequest
If the output matches the original IP address and the domain is associated with a trusted operator (e.g., Alexandria.org), the user-agent can be considered legitimate.

IP list lookup technique

Some operators provide a public list of IP addresses used by their crawlers. This list can be cross-referenced to verify a user-agent's authenticity. However, both operators and website owners may find it challenging to maintain an up-to-date list, so use this method with caution and in conjunction with other verification techniques.