AI Startup News: How to Manage Web Crawlers Effectively in 2025

As December 2025 comes to a close, one thing is clear: managing AI crawlers has become a priority for entrepreneurs and businesses that rely on websites for visibility and conversions. In my 20 years working across education, tech, and entrepreneurship, I’ve had to adapt to countless changes in how the internet works. But the explosion of AI-driven tools scrambling to train their language models feels unprecedented. The stakes couldn’t be higher for anyone trying to protect their intellectual property and resources. Let’s unpack the details and strategy behind controlling these crawlers.

Why This Matters Now

In 2025, ignoring AI crawlers could mean losing control of your website’s traffic, content, and even customer data. Once upon a time, you had only search engine bots like Googlebot to handle. Now, startups and tech giants alike are deploying bots aggressively to scrape web content for training datasets. Think of names like FacebookBot (working on Meta's Llama models) or Amazonbot (fueling Alexa updates). For a business owner trying to build digital presence, knowing which bots to block and which to allow is now a survival skill.

Common AI Crawlers in December 2025

Here’s a filtered list of user-agents you’re most likely to encounter, along with what they’re doing on your site. The crawl rates aren’t just theoretical numbers, they reflect real server activity tracked by platforms like Search Engine Journal Complete Verified Crawler List.

1. GPTBot
Purpose: Scraping public web data for OpenAI’s product training.
Crawl Rate: ~100 requests/hour on active websites.
Extra Detail: You can modify its behavior using a robots.txt directive.

2. PerplexityBot
Purpose: Powering a real-time AI answer engine.
IP Log Verification: Critical to confirming authentic visits.

3. Amazonbot
Purpose: Feeds Alexa’s knowledge graph through widespread web crawling.
Crawl Characteristics: High-frequency crawler. Keep an eye on resource usage.

4. Meta-ExternalAgent
Purpose: Supports Llama models for better Facebook and Instagram services.
Observation: Often mistaken for harmless Facebook activity in logs.

5. Short-tail Bots Like CCBot
Purpose: Common Crawl serves multiple AI organizations by creating public datasets.
Special Strategy: While powerful, this bot doesn’t always comply with robots.txt.

This is just the tip of the iceberg. For a full breakdown, I recommend checking out Momentic Marketing’s write-up of AI crawler subtypes.

How to Manage These Crawlers on Your Website

Taming these bots isn’t about blocking everything, not if you want to stay competitive. Instead, think of it as resource management.

Step 1: Audit Traffic Logs

Use server access logs or tools like Screaming Frog Log Analyzer to identify crawler activity. Search for patterns, does AmazonBot make hundreds of requests an hour? Are there obscure user-agents you’ve never heard of? This step gives you visibility.

Step 2: Verify Authenticity

Cross-reference user-agents with their published IP ranges. Real AI bots like GPTBot publish this data for transparency. For example:

GPTBot: Utilize the IP range available here
If a user-agent spoofs an IP or behaves differently from its description, block it immediately.

Step 3: Adjust robots.txt Rules

The robots.txt file instructs bots on what to crawl and what to skip. But not all user-agents respect these rules equally.
Example Code:

User-agent: GPTBot  
Disallow: /private/

Step 4: Use Firewall Settings

Platforms like Cloudflare or WordPress-based plugins (e.g., Wordfence) allow you to restrict server access to certain IP ranges or user-agents manually. For non-technical founders, this is the easiest line of defense.

Most Common Mistakes Entrepreneurs Make

Blocking Everything
Refusing all bot traffic doesn’t just drain SEO potential; it removes your content from AI-driven recommendation engines, reducing search visibility.
Ignoring Logs Until There’s a Problem
If a bot overloads your servers, the costs can escalate quickly. Stay proactive by analyzing logs monthly.
Not Differentiating Between User Bots and Business Enablers
Some bots, like Googlebot, can trigger partner collaborations or performance ratings dependent on indexed data. Confirm their roles before taking action.

Surprising Insight: AI Bot Management Enhances SEO

A managed balance between allowing useful bots and blocking harmful ones can actually improve your site’s performance. For example, reducing irrelevant scraper activity can free server resources, speeding up your real human visitor experience. On the other hand, enabling search-focused bots like Perplexity ensures your content appears in the right answers and summaries.

Tools like Thunderbit’s crawler management dashboard simplify this work if you’re time-strapped. It logs, sorts, and flags suspicious activity for review.

Where All This Is Headed

By mid-2025, browser extensions like Claude-User or OpenAI’s GPT4 browser began anonymizing crawler activity under generic headers. This will likely persist as companies prioritize user-initiated, tailored browsing. Making sense of cryptic log entries, vs. typical crawler strings, will require additional tech innovation.

Managing web crawlers might sound overwhelming, but using clear strategies and tools can cut confusion. The goal isn’t to block AI wholesale because, frankly, you can’t sidestep its creeping influence in business. Instead, by keeping updated (SEJ’s live tracker is a favorite of mine) and making changes to protect your digital property, you ensure you’re leveraging, not just reacting to, every tech wave. That’s the kind of focus future-ready entrepreneurs like us need.

FAQ on Managing AI Crawlers in 2025

1. Why is managing AI crawlers important in 2025?
AI crawlers can consume server resources, scrape valuable data, and impact SEO visibility, with increasing traffic coming from bots like GPTBot or PerplexityBot. Learn more about managing AI crawlers on SEJ

2. What are the most common AI crawlers as of December 2025?
Popular crawlers include GPTBot (OpenAI), Amazonbot (Alexa), Meta-ExternalAgent (Facebook/Instagram), and PerplexityBot (AI answer engine). Check out the verified crawler list

3. How can I verify if an AI crawler is legitimate?
Check its user-agent string and cross-reference IP ranges published by the crawlers. For example, use OpenAI’s IP data for GPTBot verification. Learn about official IP lists for crawlers

4. What is the impact of blocking all AI bots on my website?
Completely blocking bots may harm your search engine ranking and visibility in AI-driven platforms like Perplexity and Llama services. Explore crawler management techniques

5. Why is robots.txt not always reliable for managing AI crawlers?
Certain bots, like CCBot from Common Crawl, do not fully obey robots.txt directives, making additional tools like firewalls needed for control. Discover how to manage robots.txt for AI crawlers

6. How can I audit my website traffic for crawler activity?
Use tools like Screaming Frog Log Analyzer or hosting server logs to identify crawler behavior and patterns. Learn more about analyzing logs

7. Which user-agents belong to Meta crawlers?
Meta crawlers include FacebookBot and Meta-ExternalAgent, which contribute to Llama models and Instagram insights. Explore the list of Meta crawlers

8. Can managing AI crawlers improve my site's SEO?
Yes. Reducing resource-draining scraper activity can enhance server response times for human visitors, boosting performance metrics and improving SEO. Learn how crawler control enhances SEO

9. How does using Cloudflare or WordPress plugins help with crawler management?
Tools like Cloudflare and Wordfence plugins allow you to restrict access to unwanted user-agents or IP ranges manually, simplifying bot control. Explore Wordfence solutions

10. What future trends are expected with AI crawler management?
Emerging technologies may combine browser extensions and cryptic agent entries, requiring innovative solutions for detection beyond current user-agent-based strategies. Learn about evolving AI crawler trends

About the Author

Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.

Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain

Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.

CAD Sector:

Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.

IP Protection:

Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.

Blockchain:

Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.

Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).

She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.

For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.

AI Startup News: How to Manage Web Crawlers Effectively in 2025 – Tips, Mistakes, and Lessons