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

SMTBot

SMTBot is an intelligence-gathering web crawler for SimilarTech, a market intelligence and technology profiling company. Its purpose is to scan websites to identify the technologies they use, such as their CMS, analytics tools, and marketing platforms. This data is used to power SimilarTech's commercial services, which provide clients with competitive analysis, market share data, and lead generation.

What is SMTBot?

SMTBot is a web crawler operated by SimilarTech, a company specializing in market intelligence. It is a marketing intelligence crawler that scans websites to identify and collect information about the technologies and digital tools they use. The bot systematically visits web pages to detect technology implementations, from content management systems to analytics tools. It identifies itself in server logs with user-agent strings like SMTBot (similartech.com/smtbot).

Why is SMTBot crawling my site?

SMTBot is visiting your website to identify and catalog the technologies you are using. It is interested in detecting your JavaScript libraries, CMS, marketing and analytics tools, and other parts of your technology stack. The crawler does not focus on your page content but on the technical infrastructure of your site. The crawling is part of SimilarTech's authorized data collection for its market intelligence services, though it is not a crawl you would have explicitly requested.

What is the purpose of SMTBot?

The purpose of SMTBot is to serve as the data collection engine for SimilarTech's market intelligence platform. The information it gathers powers various business intelligence services, including technology adoption tracking, competitive analysis, and lead generation for technology providers. The data is aggregated and analyzed to create market insights that help technology companies understand adoption patterns and identify sales opportunities. For website owners, there is no direct benefit, as the value flows to SimilarTech's customers.

How do I block SMTBot?

To prevent SMTBot from analyzing your site's technology stack, you can add a disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This is the standard method for managing access for this type of crawler.

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

User-agent: SMTBot
Disallow: /

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

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., SimilarTech), 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.