YandexSitelinks
Yandex operates YandexSitelinks, a search-engine robot that checks the availability of pages used as sitelinks. It obeys robots.txt under the YandexSitelinks token. Site owners verify requests by reverse DNS to a hostname ending in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, confirmed by forward DNS, or with the Yandex Webmaster IP check tool. No IP range list is published.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexSitelinks; Dyatel; +http://yandex.com/bots)What YandexSitelinks does
In logs the robot identifies itself as Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexSitelinks; Dyatel; +http://yandex.com/bots). The documented string carries no version number, so a match on the YandexSitelinks token is enough to identify it by user agent. Yandex describes its purpose as checking whether the pages used as sitelinks are available. The requests you see relate to pages used as sitelinks, and Yandex documents no other task for this robot.
The robot honors robots.txt and, per Yandex, takes general robots.txt rules into account, so a rule aimed at all user agents applies to it as well as a rule naming YandexSitelinks. Blocking it stops Yandex from confirming that your sitelink pages respond; Yandex's documentation does not spell out what happens to the sitelinks themselves after that, so no outcome is claimed here. Allowing it means accepting availability checks on pages Yandex already lists.
Yandex publishes no IP range list for this robot. To confirm a request, run a reverse DNS lookup on the source IP and check that the hostname ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, then run a forward lookup on that hostname and confirm it returns the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also has an IP address check tool for the same purpose. Yandex does not document whether YandexSitelinks executes JavaScript.
Operator note. It takes into account the general rules in robots.txt. The documented UA string carries no version number.
Controlling YandexSitelinks with robots.txt
Use the token YandexSitelinks in robots.txt. Yandex documents that YandexSitelinks honors robots.txt directives.
User-agent: YandexSitelinks
Disallow: /User-agent: YandexSitelinks
Allow: /Verifying a request is really YandexSitelinks
Anyone can put YandexSitelinks 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>Common questions
Should I block YandexSitelinks?
If you want Yandex to keep checking that your sitelink pages are reachable, allow it. Blocking it prevents those availability checks; Yandex's documentation does not say what happens to your sitelinks afterwards. Since it honors robots.txt, a Disallow rule under the YandexSitelinks token is enough to stop it.
How do I verify YandexSitelinks?
Yandex publishes no IP list, so use DNS. Reverse-resolve the source IP; the hostname must end in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com. Forward-resolve that hostname and confirm it returns the original IP. Yandex Webmaster also provides an IP address check tool that does the same check for you.
Does YandexSitelinks run JavaScript?
The operator's documentation does not say. Yandex's robot page lists the user agent string and the robots.txt behaviour, plus the DNS-based verification method, but nothing about rendering or script execution for YandexSitelinks. Treat JavaScript execution as undocumented.
Sources
Every fact on this page was checked against Yandex's own documentation, listed below, and re-checked by a second reviewer before publication. Reviewed September 2026.
Related crawlers
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.