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

PetalBot

PetalBot is the official web crawler for Petal Search, the search engine developed by the technology company Huawei. The bot's purpose is to discover and index public web content to build the database for its search results. For website owners, being indexed by PetalBot offers an additional channel for visibility and organic traffic, particularly from the large global user base of Huawei devices.

What is PetalBot?

PetalBot is the web crawler for Petal Search, the search engine from Huawei. It is a conventional search engine crawler that systematically browses websites to discover, read, and index content for its search database. The bot identifies itself with user-agent strings for both desktop (Mozilla/5.0 (compatible;PetalBot; +...)) and mobile (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 7.0;...) (compatible; PetalBot;+...)). PetalBot respects standard web protocols like robots.txt and its legitimacy can be verified through reverse DNS lookups.

Why is PetalBot crawling my site?

PetalBot is crawling your website to evaluate its content for inclusion in Huawei's Petal Search results. It is looking for new and updated content to keep its index of the web current. The frequency of its visits is determined by factors like your site's popularity and content update schedule. It may show particular interest in e-commerce and mobile-optimized content, reflecting Huawei's focus on mobile devices. This is a standard practice for search engines and is considered authorized.

What is the purpose of PetalBot?

The purpose of PetalBot is to power Petal Search, Huawei's search engine alternative that is integrated into its devices and available worldwide. The crawler collects and indexes web content to help Petal Search provide relevant search results to its users. For website owners, this provides an additional source of visibility and traffic, especially from Huawei device users in regions where the company has a significant market share. Like other search engines, Petal Search aims to organize the web's information and make it accessible.

How do I block PetalBot?

If you wish to prevent PetalBot from indexing your website, you can add a disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This will prevent your pages from appearing in Petal Search results.

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

User-agent: PetalBot
Disallow: /

How to verify the authenticity of the user-agent operated by Huawei?

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., Huawei), 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.