YandexImages (Yandex): what it is and how to allow or block it
Updated · checked against the operator's documentation on
YandexImages is Yandex's robot that indexes images for Yandex Images. Verify it by reverse DNS (no IP list); it follows robots.txt, so block it by name. Its robots.txt token is YandexImages.
Facts
- Operator
- Yandex
- Category
- Search engine crawler
- robots.txt token
YandexImages
- Honors robots.txt?
- Yes, per Yandex. Yandex lists YandexImages among the robots that take the general robots.txt rules into account.
- User-agent example
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; YandexImages/3.0; +http://yandex.com/bots)
- Official source
- Yandex: Verifying Yandex robots
- Compared with the source
What it is used for
Per Yandex, YandexImages indexes images to display them in Yandex Images.
A traditional search engine crawler. AI features of the same company often draw on its index.
What happens if you block it
Your images can drop out of Yandex Images. YandexBot, Yandex's main indexing robot, has its own token.
Yandex says its robots use networks AS13238, AS208722 and AS212066 with addresses that change often, so it does not disclose a list and recommends the reverse DNS check.
Is it really YandexImages?
Anyone can send YandexImages as a user agent, so a log line proves nothing by itself. The way to tell is the requesting IP address.
- Yandex documents a reverse lookup whose name ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, followed by a forward lookup that must return the same address. It does not publish its robots' IP addresses.
- Guide: robots.txt syntax: groups, wildcards and matching rules.
- Guide: Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners: what hit our new server in 48 hours.
- Guide: robots.txt mistakes, and how to test your file.
- Paste any user agent from your logs into the user-agent lookup, or follow the scripts in Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners.
How to allow or block YandexImages
Add one of these groups to the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
User-agent: YandexImages Allow: /
User-agent: YandexImages Disallow: /
Does your site allow YandexImages today? The checker evaluates your robots.txt for this and every other bot.Check my site
What we see on this site
No request identifying as YandexImages has been recorded since 19 Oct, so there is nothing to show yet. We never fill this in with estimates.
Counts come from this site's own server; they hold no IP addresses or URLs, and a user agent is only a claim. See the bot traffic data and the methodology.
Questions about YandexImages
What is YandexImages?
Yandex's robot that indexes images for Yandex Images. Per Yandex, YandexImages indexes images to display them in Yandex Images.
Is YandexImages safe and legitimate?
The real YandexImages is a search engine crawler run by Yandex. A user-agent string is only a claim, though, so anyone can send it. Yandex documents a reverse lookup whose name ends in yandex.ru, yandex.net or yandex.com, followed by a forward lookup that must return the same address. It does not publish its robots' IP addresses.
Does YandexImages obey robots.txt?
Yes, per Yandex. Yandex lists YandexImages among the robots that take the general robots.txt rules into account.
How do I block YandexImages?
Add a group to the robots.txt at the root of your domain: User-agent: YandexImages followed by Disallow: /. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.
Will blocking YandexImages hurt my Google rankings or AI visibility?
For that search engine, yes: this is the crawler behind its index, and AI features of the same company often draw on that index. Your images can drop out of Yandex Images. YandexBot, Yandex's main indexing robot, has its own token.
Related bots
More from Yandex
- YandexBot Search engine crawlerYandex's main indexing crawler.
- YandexVideo Search engine crawlerYandex's robot that indexes videos for Yandex video search.
- YandexAdditional Special-purpose crawlerYandex's robot that applies robots.txt rules to keep page content out of Search with Yandex AI responses.
- YaDirectFetcher Special-purpose crawlerYandex's robot that downloads the target pages of ads to check their availability and topic.
Other Search engine crawlers
- Googlebot GoogleGoogle's main crawler for Google Search, whose index Google's AI features in Search also draw on.
- Bingbot MicrosoftMicrosoft's crawler for the Bing search index.
- Applebot AppleApple's crawler for search in Spotlight, Siri and Safari.
- Googlebot-Image GoogleGoogle's crawler for the images that appear in Google Search and related surfaces.
All Search Engine Crawlers · Bot directory · Bots from Yandex · Which bots to allow or block · robots.txt generator · See a page as a bot