Other · Yandex
YandexMetrika user agent, IP ranges and robots.txt
YandexMetrika is Yandex's other. It identifies itself with the YandexMetrika user-agent token, does not consult robots.txt according to its operator, and can be verified by reverse DNS (yandex.ru, yandex.net, yandex.com).
- Operator
- Yandex
- Reviewed
- September 2026
- Sources
- 1
- Operator
- Yandex
- User-agent token
- YandexMetrika
- Purpose
- Other
- robots.txt token
- YandexMetrika
- Honors robots.txt
- No, per the operator
- Published IP ranges
- No official range file
- Verification
- Reverse DNS lookup on the requesting IP must return a host ending in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, and a forward DNS lookup of that host must return the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also provides an IP address check tool.
- Reverse DNS suffix
- yandex.ru, yandex.net, yandex.com
- Full user-agent example
- Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexMetrika/2.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)
Block or allow YandexMetrika in robots.txt
User-agent: YandexMetrika
Disallow: /User-agent: YandexMetrika
Allow: /Verify a request is really YandexMetrika
Anyone can put YandexMetrika in a User-Agent header. Reverse DNS lookup on the requesting IP must return a host ending in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, and a forward DNS lookup of that host must return the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also provides an IP address check tool.
host <request-ip>
# expect a hostname ending in yandex.ru, yandex.net, yandex.com
host <that-hostname>
# expect it to resolve back to <request-ip>What YandexMetrika does
Yandex operates YandexMetrika, the Yandex Metrica robot. Version 2.0 with the yabs01 marker downloads pages to check availability, including the landing pages of Yandex Direct ads, and version 4.0 downloads and caches CSS styles to render pages in Webvisor. Yandex documents that it does not follow robots.txt. Site owners verify it by reverse DNS to yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com.
Yandex documents four user-agent strings, all with the token YandexMetrika and a link to yandex.com/bots. The 2.0 string with the yabs01 marker downloads site pages to check they are available, including the landing pages of Yandex Direct ads, and the 4.0 string downloads and caches CSS files so that Webvisor can render site pages. Plain YandexMetrika/2.0 and YandexMetrika/3.0 strings also appear in the documentation, without a separate task described for them. Yandex describes the robot as the Yandex Metrica robot.
Yandex says YandexMetrika does not follow robots.txt. For the yabs01 2.0 string and the 4.0 string the wording is stronger, stating that they do not use robots.txt at all and ignore directives set for them; for the plain 2.0 and 3.0 strings Yandex only says they do not take general rules into account. Yandex documents no robots.txt directive that the robot acts on, so treat robots.txt as ineffective for it. Blocking at the server level would stop availability checks on Direct landing pages and CSS caching for Webvisor, which affects the site's Metrica and Direct functions.
Verification follows the general Yandex method. Run a reverse DNS lookup on the requesting IP and confirm the hostname ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, then run a forward lookup on that hostname and check it returns the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also has an IP address check tool. Yandex publishes no IP range file, and nothing in its documentation for this robot describes JavaScript execution or crawl rate.
Operator note. Yandex documents four UA strings. 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexMetrika/2.0; +http://yandex.com/bots yabs01)' and 'Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexMetrika/4.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)' are stated to not use robots.txt at all and to ignore directives set for them. The plain 'YandexMetrika/2.0' and 'YandexMetrika/3.0' are listed as not taking into account the general rules, without the stronger 'ignores directives' wording.
Common questions
- Should I block YandexMetrika?
- If your site uses Yandex Metrica or runs Yandex Direct ads, blocking it stops the availability checks on ad landing pages and the CSS caching Webvisor needs to render pages. Yandex says the robot does not follow robots.txt, so a block would have to be at the server level after verifying the hostname.
- Does YandexMetrika respect robots.txt?
- No. Yandex documents that the yabs01 2.0 and 4.0 variants do not use robots.txt at all and ignore directives set for them, and that the plain 2.0 and 3.0 variants do not take general rules into account. Yandex documents no robots.txt directive that the robot acts on.
- How do I verify YandexMetrika?
- Do a reverse DNS lookup on the requesting IP and confirm the hostname ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, then do a forward lookup on that hostname and confirm it returns the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also has an IP address check tool. Yandex publishes no IP range file.
Sources
The operator documentation used for this entry. Recorded review date September 2026; consult the linked pages for current policy and compare them with this dated snapshot.
This registry documents how operators describe their own bots so site owners can identify and control them. It does not publish third-party IP lists or guess at undocumented behaviour. To see how your own site responds to automated visitors, the bot detection scanner reads a URL's live response and names the protection it finds.