See it on a real storeBots, pages and people sent by AI on an example store. No sign-up.AI search index, run by Amazon.
What is Amazonbot? Amazon's crawler for AI search answers. Verifiable by reverse DNS.
Run by Amazon.
Purpose: AI search index. A visit means your page is being added to, or refreshed in, an index that AI answers draw on.
robots.txt name: Amazonbot.
Verifiable by reverse DNS.
At a glance, the facts in one table.
Amazonbot at a glance. Taken from SenseGap's open bot directory, the same data that sorts every visit in the dashboard.
All bots| Amazonbot | |
|---|---|
| Operator | Amazon |
| Purpose | AI search index |
| User agent contains | Amazonbot |
| robots.txt name | Amazonbot |
| Verification | Reverse DNS |
| Documentation | None listed |
Purpose, what it does and why it came.
What Amazonbot does. SenseGap sorts every visit by purpose. Amazonbot is in the AI search index group.
Amazonbot is Amazon's crawler that builds the index Amazon uses to find pages for AI search answers.
What a visit means
A visit means your page is being added to, or refreshed in, an index that AI answers draw on. Nobody asked a question at that moment; it is preparation for future answers.
Detection, the header SenseGap matches.
How SenseGap recognizes Amazonbot. By its User-Agent header. A separate check then decides whether the visit is real.
Every request carries a User-Agent header naming the software that sent it. SenseGap counts a request as Amazonbot when that header contains Amazonbot, in any letter case. The header is plain text, so any script can copy it. Matching the name is where recognition starts, not where trust starts.
/Amazonbot/iVerification, how to tell a real visit from a fake.
How to verify Amazonbot. Amazon publishes the DNS names its servers use, so a real visit can be proven.
How we verify bots- 01
Look up the visiting address
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP address the request came from. It returns a hostname.
- 02
Check the hostname
The hostname must end in .crawl.amazonbot.amazon. Anything else is not Amazonbot.
*.crawl.amazonbot.amazon - 03
Look the hostname up again
Run a forward lookup on that hostname. It must return the same IP address, otherwise the reverse record could have been set by anyone.
$ host <visiting-ip>
… domain name pointer <hostname>.crawl.amazonbot.amazon.
$ host <hostname>.crawl.amazonbot.amazon
<hostname>.crawl.amazonbot.amazon has address <visiting-ip>SenseGap runs this check on every visit that claims to be Amazonbot. A pass is marked Real. A visit that sends the name and fails is marked Fake, and stays out of your other reports.
robots.txt, rules you can copy.
Block or allow Amazonbot in robots.txt. Its robots.txt name is Amazonbot. Paste a group into the robots.txt at your site's root.
User-agent: Amazonbot
Disallow: /User-agent: Amazonbot
Allow: /User-agent: Amazonbot
Disallow: /private/One rule catches people out. Under the robots.txt standard (RFC 9309), a crawler that finds a group naming it follows only that group and ignores your User-agent: * rules. If you add a Amazonbot group, repeat in it anything from the catch-all group you still want applied.
robots.txt is a request, not a lock. To enforce a block, match the User-Agent header at your server or CDN. In nginx:
# nginx, inside a server block
if ($http_user_agent ~* "Amazonbot") {
return 403;
}SenseGap reads your robots.txt and shows, bot by bot, what you allow and which bots fetched pages you disallowed. See what you get.
Trade-off, what blocking changes.
Should you block Amazonbot? It depends on what you want from Amazon. Here is what each choice means.
If you allow it
Your pages can be found, cited and linked in that company's AI answers.
If you block it
Your pages become less likely to appear, or to be described accurately, in that company's AI answers.
AI search index, other bots with the same job.
Other AI search crawlers. Same purpose, different companies.
Browse the directoryFAQ, Amazonbot in short answers.
Amazonbot, answered plainly
What is Amazonbot?
Amazonbot is Amazon's crawler that builds the index Amazon uses to find pages for AI search answers.
Who runs Amazonbot?
Amazon. SenseGap's directory has no documentation link for it yet.
What does a visit from Amazonbot mean?
A visit means your page is being added to, or refreshed in, an index that AI answers draw on. Nobody asked a question at that moment; it is preparation for future answers.
What user agent does Amazonbot use?
Its User-Agent header contains "Amazonbot". SenseGap matches it regardless of letter case.
How do I block Amazonbot?
Add "User-agent: Amazonbot" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt. robots.txt is a request, not a lock; to enforce it, block the user agent at your server or CDN.
How do I know a visit is really Amazonbot?
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the address: the hostname must end in .crawl.amazonbot.amazon, and a forward lookup of that hostname must return the same address. SenseGap runs these checks on every visit.
Does Amazon publish IP ranges for Amazonbot?
Not as a list SenseGap uses. It can be verified by reverse DNS instead: real hosts end in .crawl.amazonbot.amazon.
What happens if I block Amazonbot?
Your pages become less likely to appear, or to be described accurately, in that company's AI answers.