SEO tool crawler · Yandex
YandexWebmaster user agent, IP ranges and robots.txt
YandexWebmaster is Yandex's SEO tool crawler. It identifies itself with the YandexWebmaster user-agent token, honors 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
- YandexWebmaster
- Purpose
- SEO tool crawler
- robots.txt token
- YandexWebmaster
- Honors robots.txt
- Yes, 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; YandexWebmaster/2.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)
Block or allow YandexWebmaster in robots.txt
User-agent: YandexWebmaster
Disallow: /User-agent: YandexWebmaster
Allow: /Verify a request is really YandexWebmaster
Anyone can put YandexWebmaster 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 YandexWebmaster does
Yandex operates YandexWebmaster, the robot documented as the Yandex Webmaster robot in Yandex's list of crawlers. Its robots.txt token is YandexWebmaster and Yandex states it takes general robots.txt rules into account. Site owners verify it by reverse DNS on a hostname ending in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, confirmed with a forward lookup; Yandex publishes no IP list for it.
In logs the robot appears as "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexWebmaster/2.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)". Yandex's crawler reference describes it in three words, as the Yandex Webmaster robot, and gives no further detail about which Webmaster functions trigger a request or how often it visits. The registry classifies it as an SEO tool crawler on the strength of that name. Yandex Webmaster is the service that holds the IP address check tool Yandex cites for verification, but Yandex does not say which actions in that service produce requests from this robot. Anything more specific is not in the documentation.
Yandex lists the robot as taking the general rules in robots.txt into account, so an existing User-agent: * disallow applies to it, and a directive naming YandexWebmaster restricts it on its own. Blocking it does not affect YandexBot or the other Yandex search robots, which have separate tokens. Because Yandex does not document what the robot fetches, it also does not document the practical effect of a block. Yandex does not document crawl rate or JavaScript execution for it and publishes no IP range list.
Verification follows the standard Yandex procedure. Run a reverse DNS lookup on the request 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 address. A hostname that looks right but does not resolve back to the requesting IP fails the check. Yandex Webmaster also has an IP address check tool that performs the same test.
Operator note. It takes into account the general rules in robots.txt.
Common questions
- What does YandexWebmaster do?
- Yandex's crawler reference describes it only as the Yandex Webmaster robot. The operator does not document which requests it makes, how often it visits, or which Webmaster features use it. The registry records the name, user agent, robots.txt token and verification method, and nothing beyond what Yandex publishes.
- Should I block YandexWebmaster?
- Yandex says the robot takes general robots.txt rules into account, so a User-agent: YandexWebmaster disallow, or an existing site-wide disallow, will stop it. Because Yandex does not document what the robot fetches, it also does not document what a site loses by blocking it. Other Yandex robots are unaffected.
- How do I verify YandexWebmaster?
- Do a reverse DNS lookup on the request IP, check that the hostname ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, then do a forward lookup on that hostname and confirm it resolves back to the same IP. Yandex Webmaster also has an IP address check tool. Yandex publishes no IP range list for this robot.
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.