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

TinEye-bot

TinEye-bot is the specialized web crawler for TinEye, the well-known reverse image search engine. Its purpose is to scan the web to discover and index images for its search database. Unlike traditional search engines, TinEye focuses on finding exact and modified matches of an image. For content creators and photographers, TinEye is a valuable tool for tracking where their images appear online and identifying unauthorized use.

What is TinEye-bot?

TinEye-bot is the web crawler for TinEye, the reverse image search engine. The bot's function is to systematically navigate the web to discover and index images for TinEye's search service. Unlike general-purpose crawlers, it focuses exclusively on visual content. The bot identifies itself in server logs with a user-agent string like Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; TinEye-bot/1.31; +http://www.tineye.com/crawler.html). Its key characteristic is its ability to analyze and index images based on their visual fingerprint, which allows it to find matches even if an image has been modified.

Why is TinEye-bot crawling my site?

TinEye-bot is visiting your website to discover and index its images for inclusion in the TinEye reverse image search database. If your site contains images, the bot may crawl them to add to its searchable index. The frequency of visits depends on how many images your site hosts and how often you update your visual content. This is a standard and authorized web activity for a legitimate search service.

What is the purpose of TinEye-bot?

The purpose of TinEye-bot is to support the TinEye reverse image search service, which allows users to find where an image appears online. The data collected by the bot is used to build TinEye's image fingerprint database. For website owners, particularly content creators and photographers, the service provides significant value by helping them protect their copyright and track the usage of their images across the web. It can be an essential tool for discovering unauthorized use of visual work.

How do I block TinEye-bot?

To prevent TinEye-bot from indexing the images on your website, you can add a specific disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This is the standard method for managing crawler access.

Add the following lines to your robots.txt file to block this bot:

User-agent: TinEye-bot
Disallow: /

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

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., Idee Inc), 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.