How to block unwanted robots in Apache and Nginx and Robots.txt

Konstantin Ryabenko
Konstantin Ryabenko

4 May 2025 · 9 минут

This is a translation of an article from Builder Society. Link to the source at the end.

To avoid sending people to my website moneyoverethics.com for the latest robots, I decided to just create a working/updated version here. I recommend using the following browser add-ons to check if you are actually blocking the bots you want to block. 👇

You can do this with the User Agent Extension:
for firefox: https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/user-agent-switcher/
for chrome: https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/user-agent-switcher-for-c/djflhoibgkdhkhhcedjiklpkjnoahfmg

If you don't want to mess around with .htaccess and codes, you can use a plugin for this task.

There are free plugins and there are paid plugins, such as Spyder Spanker.
You can use Link Privacy from the free ones.

Note. Don't just blindly copy these files without reviewing them and double checking to make sure you're not blocking the bots that should be climbing your site. For example, these files block 'curl', 'python', 'perl' and even 'SEMRush' - if you use bots or services blocked in these files, you are not only blocking your competitors from using these services to gather information about your domain, but you are also blocking your own attempts. I block everything!

Table of Contents
show

Version for Robots.txt

Top-level robots.txt for starters, "good" robots "should" honor this:

User-agent: AhrefsBot
User-agent: AhrefsSiteAudit
User-agent: adbeat_bot
User-agent: Alexibot
User-agent: AppEngine
User-agent: Aqua_Products
User-agent: archive.org_bot
User-agent: archive
User-agent: asterias
User-agent: b2w/0.1
User-agent: BackDoorBot/1.0
User-agent: BecomeBot
User-agent: BlekkoBot
User-agent: Blexbot
User-agent: BlowFish/1.0
User-agent: Bookmark search tool
User-agent: BotALot
User-agent: BuiltBotTough
User-agent: Bullseye/1.0
User-agent: BunnySlippers
User-agent: CCBot
User-agent: CheeseBot
User-agent: CherryPicker
User-agent: CherryPickerElite/1.0
User-agent: CherryPickerSE/1.0
User-agent: chroot
User-agent: Copernic
User-agent: CopyRightCheck
User-agent: cosmos
User-agent: Crescent
User-agent: Crescent Internet ToolPak HTTP OLE Control v.1.0
User-agent: DittoSpyder
User-agent: dotbot
User-agent: dumbot
User-agent: EmailCollector
User-agent: EmailSiphon
User-agent: EmailWolf
User-agent: Enterprise_Search
User-agent: Enterprise_Search/1.0
User-agent: EroCrawler
User-agent: es
User-agent: exabot
User-agent: ExtractorPro
User-agent: FairAd Client
User-agent: Flaming AttackBot
User-agent: Foobot
User-agent: Gaisbot
User-agent: GetRight/4.2
User-agent: gigabot
User-agent: grub
User-agent: grub-client
User-agent: Go-http-client
User-agent: Harvest/1.5
User-agent: Hatena Antenna
User-agent: hloader
User-agent: http://www.SearchEngineWorld.com bot
User-agent: http://www.WebmasterWorld.com bot
User-agent: httplib
User-agent: humanlinks
User-agent: ia_archiver
User-agent: ia_archiver/1.6
User-agent: InfoNaviRobot
User-agent: Iron33/1.0.2
User-agent: JamesBOT
User-agent: JennyBot
User-agent: Jetbot
User-agent: Jetbot/1.0
User-agent: Jorgee
User-agent: Kenjin Spider
User-agent: Keyword Density/0.9
User-agent: larbin
User-agent: LexiBot
User-agent: libWeb/clsHTTP
User-agent: LinkextractorPro
User-agent: LinkpadBot
User-agent: LinkScan/8.1a Unix
User-agent: LinkWalker
User-agent: LNSpiderguy
User-agent: looksmart
User-agent: lwp-trivial
User-agent: lwp-trivial/1.34
User-agent: Mata Hari
User-agent: Megalodon
User-agent: Microsoft URL Control
User-agent: Microsoft URL Control - 5.01.4511
User-agent: Microsoft URL Control - 6.00.8169
User-agent: MIIxpc
User-agent: MIIxpc/4.2
User-agent: Mister PiX
User-agent: MJ12bot
User-agent: moget
User-agent: moget/2.1
User-agent: mozilla
User-agent: Mozilla
User-agent: mozilla/3
User-agent: mozilla/4
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; BullsEye; Windows 95)
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows 2000)
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows 95)
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows 98)
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows NT)
User-agent: Mozilla/4.0 (compatible; MSIE 4.0; Windows XP)
User-agent: mozilla/5
User-agent: MSIECrawler
User-agent: naver
User-agent: NerdyBot
User-agent: NetAnts
User-agent: NetMechanic
User-agent: NICErsPRO
User-agent: Nutch
User-agent: Offline Explorer
User-agent: Openbot
User-agent: Openfind
User-agent: Openfind data gathere
User-agent: Oracle Ultra Search
User-agent: PerMan
User-agent: ProPowerBot/2.14
User-agent: ProWebWalker
User-agent: psbot
User-agent: Python-urllib
User-agent: QueryN Metasearch
User-agent: Radiation Retriever 1.1
User-agent: RepoMonkey
User-agent: RepoMonkey Bait & Tackle/v1.01
User-agent: RMA
User-agent: rogerbot
User-agent: scooter
User-agent: Screaming Frog SEO Spider
User-agent: searchpreview
User-agent: SEMrushBot
User-agent: SemrushBot
User-agent: SemrushBot-SA
User-agent: SEOkicks-Robot
User-agent: SiteSnagger
User-agent: sootle
User-agent: SpankBot
User-agent: spanner
User-agent: spbot
User-agent: Stanford
User-agent: Stanford Comp Sci
User-agent: Stanford CompClub
User-agent: Stanford CompSciClub
User-agent: Stanford Spiderboys
User-agent: SurveyBot
User-agent: SurveyBot_IgnoreIP
User-agent: suzuran
User-agent: Szukacz/1.4
User-agent: Szukacz/1.4
User-agent: Teleport
User-agent: TeleportPro
User-agent: Telesoft
User-agent: Teoma
User-agent: The Intraformant
User-agent: TheNomad
User-agent: toCrawl/UrlDispatcher
User-agent: True_Robot
User-agent: True_Robot/1.0
User-agent: turingos
User-agent: Typhoeus
User-agent: URL Control
User-agent: URL_Spider_Pro
User-agent: URLy Warning
User-agent: VCI
User-agent: VCI WebViewer VCI WebViewer Win32
User-agent: Web Image Collector
User-agent: WebAuto
User-agent: WebBandit
User-agent: WebBandit/3.50
User-agent: WebCopier
User-agent: WebEnhancer
User-agent: WebmasterWorld Extractor
User-agent: WebmasterWorldForumBot
User-agent: WebSauger
User-agent: Website Quester
User-agent: Webster Pro
User-agent: WebStripper
User-agent: WebVac
User-agent: WebZip
User-agent: WebZip/4.0
User-agent: Wget
User-agent: Wget/1.5.3
User-agent: Wget/1.6
User-agent: WWW-Collector-E
User-agent: Xenu's
User-agent: Xenu's Link Sleuth 1.1c
User-agent: Zeus
User-agent: Zeus 32297 Webster Pro V2.9 Win32
User-agent: Zeus Link Scout
Disallow: /

Note. Some people think that copying these files will create traces(links by which I can track copypasta between sites - iConsult Agency note), but I don't know, and I'll never be able to get a straight answer as to who checks and compares these robots.txt files across billions of domains, and I still haven't found any software that bothers to do it, so... ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ .

I'd be more worried about Google being able to read your gmail when you're emailing back and forth with PBN providers or some client of your PBN provider is using gmail and now Google can connect the dots.

Version for .httaccess (Apache)

Classic version of Apache

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !/robots.txt$
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^$ [OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EventMachine.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NerdyBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Typhoeus.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*archive.org_bot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*archive.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*adbeat_bot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*github.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*chroot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Jorgee.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Go\ 1.1\ package.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Go-http-client.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Copyscape.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*semrushbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*semrushbot-sa.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*JamesBOT.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SEOkicks-Robot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LinkpadBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*getty.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*picscout.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*AppEngine.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Zend_Http_Client.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BlackWidow.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*openlink.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*spbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Nutch.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Jetbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebVac.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Stanford.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*scooter.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*naver.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*dumbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Hatena\ Antenna.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*grub.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*looksmart.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebZip.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*larbin.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*b2w/0.1.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Copernic.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*psbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Python-urllib.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NetMechanic.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*URL_Spider_Pro.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*CherryPicker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ExtractorPro.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*CopyRightCheck.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Crescent.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*CCBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SiteSnagger.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ProWebWalker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*CheeseBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LNSpiderguy.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EmailCollector.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EmailSiphon.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebBandit.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EmailWolf.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ia_archiver.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Alexibot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Teleport.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*MIIxpc.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Telesoft.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Website\ Quester.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*moget.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebStripper.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebSauger.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebCopier.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NetAnts.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Mister\ PiX.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebAuto.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*TheNomad.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WWW-Collector-E.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*RMA.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*libWeb/clsHTTP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*asterias.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*httplib.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*turingos.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*spanner.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Harvest.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*InfoNaviRobot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Bullseye.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebBandit.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NICErsPRO.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Microsoft\ URL\ Control.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*DittoSpyder.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Foobot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebmasterWorldForumBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SpankBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BotALot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*lwp-trivial.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebmasterWorld.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BunnySlippers.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*URLy\ Warning.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LinkWalker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*cosmos.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*hloader.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*humanlinks.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LinkextractorPro.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Offline\ Explorer.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Mata\ Hari.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LexiBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Web\ Image\ Collector.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*woobot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*The\ Intraformant.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*True_Robot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BlowFish.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SearchEngineWorld.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*JennyBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*MIIxpc.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BuiltBotTough.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ProPowerBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BackDoorBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*toCrawl/UrlDispatcher.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebEnhancer.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*suzuran.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebViewer.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*VCI.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Szukacz.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*QueryN.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Openfind.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Openbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Webster.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EroCrawler.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LinkScan.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Keyword.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Kenjin.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Iron33.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Bookmark\ search\ tool.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*GetRight.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*FairAd\ Client.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Gaisbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Aqua_Products.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Radiation\ Retriever\ 1.1.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Flaming\ AttackBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Oracle\ Ultra\ Search.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*MSIECrawler.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*PerMan.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*searchpreview.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*sootle.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Enterprise_Search.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Bot\ mailto:craftbot@yahoo.com.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ChinaClaw.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Custo.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*DISCo.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Download\ Demon.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*eCatch.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EirGrabber.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EmailSiphon.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EmailWolf.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Express\ WebPictures.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ExtractorPro.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*EyeNetIE.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*FlashGet.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*GetRight.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*GetWeb!.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Go!Zilla.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Go-Ahead-Got-It.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*GrabNet.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Grafula.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*HMView.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*HTTrack.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Image\ Stripper.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Image\ Sucker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Indy\ Library.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*InterGET.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Internet\ Ninja.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*JetCar.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*JOC\ Web\ Spider.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*larbin.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*LeechFTP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Mass\ Downloader.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*MIDown\ tool.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Mister\ PiX.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Navroad.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NearSite.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NetAnts.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NetSpider.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Net\ Vampire.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*NetZIP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Octopus.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Offline\ Explorer.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Offline\ Navigator.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*PageGrabber.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Papa\ Foto.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*pavuk.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*pcBrowser.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*RealDownload.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*ReGet.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SiteSnagger.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SmartDownload.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SuperBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SuperHTTP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Surfbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*tAkeOut.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Teleport\ Pro.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*VoidEYE.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Web\ Image\ Collector.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Web\ Sucker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebAuto.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebCopier.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebFetch.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebGo\ IS.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebLeacher.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebReaper.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebSauger.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*wesee.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Website\ eXtractor.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Website\ Quester.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebStripper.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebWhacker.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebZIP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Wget.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Widow.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WWWOFFLE.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Xaldon\ WebSpider.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Zeus.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Semrush.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BecomeBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Screaming.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Screaming\ FrogSEO.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SEO.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*AhrefsBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*AhrefsSiteAudit.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*MJ12bot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*rogerbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*exabot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Xenu.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*dotbot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*gigabot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Twengabot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*htmlparser.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*libwww.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Python.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*perl.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*urllib.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*scan.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Curl.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*email.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*PycURL.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*Pyth.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*PyQ.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebCollector.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*WebCopy.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*webcraw.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SurveyBot.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*SurveyBot_IgnoreIP.*$ [NC,OR]
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} ^.*BlekkoBot.*$ [NC]
RewriteRule ^.*.* http://www.google.com/ [L]

Note. My code redirects to google.com so it renders the correct html page, and there's a bad bot ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ LOL doing it. In very old versions, I had a redirect to webmd.com (so everything related to webmd.com came from me), but that's because I was working in healthcare at the time.

Version for nginx.conf (NGINX)

Inside the http block (nginx.conf)

http {
map $http_user_agent $limit_bots {
     default 0;
     ~*(adbeat_bot|ahrefsbot|ahrefssiteaudit|alexibot|appengine|aqua_products|archive.org_bot|archive|asterias|attackbot|b2w|backdoorbot|becomebot|blackwidow|blekkobot) 1;
     ~*(blowfish|botalot|builtbottough|bullseye|bunnyslippers|ccbot|cheesebot|cherrypicker|chinaclaw|chroot|clshttp|collector) 1;
     ~*(control|copernic|copyrightcheck|copyscape|cosmos|craftbot|crescent|curl|custo|demon) 1;
     ~*(disco|dittospyder|dotbot|download|downloader|dumbot|ecatch|eirgrabber|email|emailcollector) 1;
     ~*(emailsiphon|emailwolf|enterprise_search|erocrawler|eventmachine|exabot|express|extractor|extractorpro|eyenetie) 1;
     ~*(fairad|flaming|flashget|foobot|foto|gaisbot|getright|getty|getweb!|gigabot) 1;
     ~*(github|go!zilla|go-ahead-got-it|go-http-client|grabnet|grafula|grub|hari|harvest|hatena|antenna|hloader) 1;
     ~*(hmview|htmlparser|httplib|httrack|humanlinks|ia_archiver|indy|infonavirobot|interget|intraformant) 1;
     ~*(iron33|jamesbot|jennybot|jetbot|jetcar|joc|jorgee|kenjin|keyword|larbin|leechftp) 1;
     ~*(lexibot|library|libweb|libwww|linkextractorpro|linkpadbot|linkscan|linkwalker|lnspiderguy|looksmart) 1;
     ~*(lwp-trivial|mass|mata|midown|miixpc|mister|mj12bot|moget|msiecrawler|naver) 1;
     ~*(navroad|nearsite|nerdybot|netants|netmechanic|netspider|netzip|nicerspro|ninja|nutch) 1;
     ~*(octopus|offline|openbot|openfind|openlink|pagegrabber|papa|pavuk|pcbrowser|perl) 1;
     ~*(perman|picscout|propowerbot|prowebwalker|psbot|pycurl|pyq|pyth|python) 1;
     ~*(python-urllib|queryn|quester|radiation|realdownload|reget|retriever|rma|rogerbot|scan|screaming|frog|seo) 1;
     ~*(scooter|searchengineworld|searchpreview|semrush|semrushbot|semrushbot-sa|seokicks-robot|sitesnagger|smartdownload|sootle) 1;
     ~*(spankbot|spanner|spbot|spider|stanford|stripper|sucker|superbot|superhttp|surfbot|surveybot) 1;
     ~*(suzuran|szukacz|takeout|teleport|telesoft|thenomad|tocrawl|tool|true_robot|turingos) 1;
     ~*(twengabot|typhoeus|url_spider_pro|urldispatcher|urllib|urly|vampire|vci|voideye|warning) 1;
     ~*(webauto|webbandit|webcollector|webcopier|webcopy|webcraw|webenhancer|webfetch|webgo|webleacher) 1;
     ~*(webmasterworld|webmasterworldforumbot|webpictures|webreaper|websauger|webspider|webster|webstripper|webvac|webviewer) 1;
     ~*(webwhacker|webzip|webzip|wesee|wget|widow|woobot|www-collector-e|wwwoffle|xenu) 1;
}
}

Inside each server block (in your example.com file inside the folder accessible to sites)

server {
location / {
#blocks blank user_agents
if ($http_user_agent = "") { return  301 $scheme://www.google.com/; }

  if ($limit_bots = 1) {
  return  301 $scheme://www.google.com/;
  }
}
}

If you have any questions, check out the original forum thread. It is updated regularly.

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