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

YandexSearchShop bot

The YandexSearchShop bot is a specialized web crawler from the Russian search engine Yandex. Its purpose is to collect product information from e-commerce websites for its shopping search features, which are similar to Google Shopping. For online retailers targeting the Russian market, being indexed by this bot is essential for gaining visibility and driving traffic from users searching for products on Yandex.

What is the YandexSearchShop bot?

The YandexSearchShop bot is a web crawler from Yandex that is designed to discover, analyze, and index content from online shopping and e-commerce platforms. The bot helps power Yandex's shopping search features. It identifies itself in server logs with the user-agent string Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexSearchShop/3.0; +https://yandex.com/support/webmaster/robot-workings/check-yandex-robots.html). It is designed to respect standard crawling protocols while collecting the data needed for Yandex's shopping index.

Why is the YandexSearchShop bot crawling my site?

The YandexSearchShop bot is crawling your website because it contains product listings or other e-commerce content that Yandex wants to include in its shopping search results. The bot is specifically looking for product information, such as names, prices, and images. The frequency of visits depends on your site's popularity in Russian-speaking regions and how often your product information changes. This is a standard and authorized activity for a major search engine.

What is the purpose of the YandexSearchShop bot?

The purpose of the YandexSearchShop bot is to gather product information from the web to power Yandex's shopping search features. The data it collects allows Yandex to create comprehensive shopping results where users can compare products and prices. For e-commerce site owners, being indexed by this bot can provide visibility to potential customers using Yandex's shopping search, which can drive qualified traffic and sales from users who are actively looking to purchase specific products.

How do I block the YandexSearchShop bot?

To prevent the YandexSearchShop bot from accessing your website, you can add a specific disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This will prevent your products from appearing in Yandex's shopping search results.

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

User-agent: YandexSearchShop
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.

```
> host IPAddressOfRequest
```
This command returns the reverse lookup hostname (e.g., 4.4.8.8.in-addr.arpa.).

> 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.