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

ZumBot

ZumBot is the official web crawler for ZUM Search, a search engine service. It systematically scans and indexes public web content to build the database that powers ZUM's search results. For website owners, being indexed by ZumBot can increase visibility and drive traffic from users of the ZUM search platform.

What is ZumBot?

ZumBot is the web crawler for the search engine service ZUM Search. It is an automated bot that systematically browses websites to collect information for its search results. The bot identifies itself in server logs with a user-agent string like Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; ZumBot/1.0; http://help.zum.com/inquiry). Like most legitimate search engine crawlers, it is designed to respect standard web protocols while it gathers the information needed to be processed and indexed.

Why is ZumBot crawling my site?

ZumBot is crawling your website to discover and index its content for inclusion in ZUM Search results. The frequency of its visits typically depends on how often your content changes and how authoritative your site is considered by ZUM's algorithms. This is a standard and authorized activity for a search engine on the public web.

What is the purpose of ZumBot?

The purpose of ZumBot is to build and maintain the index that powers the ZUM Search service. The data it collects helps ZUM understand what content exists on the web and how it might be relevant to search queries. For website owners, having your content crawled by ZumBot can increase your visibility in ZUM Search results, which can potentially drive more traffic to your site. This represents a mutually beneficial relationship where ZUM gains content for its index, and websites gain potential visibility.

How do I block ZumBot?

To prevent ZumBot from accessing your website, you can add a specific disallow rule to your robots.txt file. This will prevent your pages from appearing in ZUM's search results.

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

User-agent: ZumBot
Disallow: /

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

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., ZUMinternet), 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.