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

YandexComBot

YandexComBot is a web crawler for Yandex, Russia's largest search engine. It functions as an indexing bot, scanning websites to collect and analyze content for Yandex's search services. It is part of the broader Yandex crawler ecosystem and is crucial for any website aiming for visibility in the Russian and Eastern European markets.

What is YandexComBot?

YandexComBot is a web crawler from the Russian search engine company Yandex. It is an indexing bot that crawls websites to collect information for Yandex's search services. The bot identifies itself in server logs with a user-agent string like Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexComBot/3.0; +http://yandex.com/bots). Like other Yandex crawlers, it operates from IP addresses associated with Yandex's infrastructure, primarily in Russia.

Why is YandexComBot crawling my site?

YandexComBot is visiting your website to discover and index its content for inclusion in Yandex search results. It is collecting information about your pages, structure, and content to help Yandex understand what your site offers. The frequency of visits depends on factors like your site's popularity and content update schedule, particularly in the Russian and Eastern European markets where Yandex has a significant presence. The crawling is a standard and authorized part of search engine operations.

What is the purpose of YandexComBot?

The purpose of YandexComBot is to support the Yandex search engine by building and maintaining its search index. The data it collects allows Yandex to provide relevant search results to its users. For website owners, having your content properly indexed by Yandex can provide significant value by making your site discoverable to Yandex users, especially those in Russia and other countries where Yandex has a large market share. This can drive relevant traffic to your site from Yandex search results.

How do I block YandexComBot?

To prevent YandexComBot from accessing your website, you can add a specific disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This will prevent your pages from being indexed in Yandex's search results.

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

User-agent: YandexComBot
Disallow: /

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

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., Yandex), 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.