Unsolved Site Crawler not working but on-demand crawler working

[gilesd]

Hi,

In Moz pro, when using Site crawler (or recrawl), we are seeing message site is banned. But when using on-demand crawler, it could generate report successfully.

I just like to know if in both these cases, it is roberbot that is used!

And kindly note, site crawler was perfectly working before. So the required setup is already in place from long time. Site crawler ban issue started appearing from nov/dec 2023. .

Could you please us understand how could we possibly make site-crawler work?
I am happy to provide more details if you need any.

Thanks

[gilesd]

Hi,

This question requires help from MozPro.
Site Crawler is not working because it is missing request header 'user-agent' when we investigated the logs in our system and it got banned because of this reason.
On-demand crawler is still working because it has request header 'user-agent' and our system approved it hence able to generate report.

Could you please look into this issue of no-user-agent request header?
Your response is much appreciated.

Thanks

[gilesd]

Hi,

I will double-check with firewall settings in our servers. Could you please share moz-pro site-crawler roger bot IP addresses/range? We will verify against our firewall rules.

Thanks
Shashi

[gilesd]

I am looking for roger bot site crawler IP addresses Please provide.

Thanks

[gilesd]

@Aditi_08
Could you please help me on how to get IP addresses of Site Crawler? Just please note, Site Crawler is working before November so IP addresses were not blocked.

Like it is mentioned before,

• no change in robots.txt
• no issue with rate limiting
• no changes in site-crawler configuration

[Aditi_08]

@gilesd If you're experiencing issues with Moz Pro's Site Crawler showing that the site is banned while the On-Demand Crawler works fine, it might be due to changes or updates since November/December 2023. Both tools likely use the same crawler, "rogerbot," but differ in their operational schedules. The problem could be due to rate limiting or blocking by your server, IP blocking, changes in your robots.txt file, or updates in the Site Crawler configuration. To resolve this, check your robots.txt file to ensure it allows Moz's crawler, review server logs and firewall settings to ensure the crawler’s IP addresses aren’t blocked, and adjust rate limiting settings if necessary. Also, double-check the settings in Moz Pro to make sure there are no configurations causing the issue. If the problem persists, contact Moz support with detailed information about the error messages and any recent changes to your site’s configuration. Regular monitoring of your site’s interactions with automated tools and coordinating with your hosting provider can help prevent such issues in the future.

[gilesd]

@davidmooore

I am not sure why my reply not appearing here. Just for confirmation, replying again,

I like to confirm you -

There is no modification in Robots.txt
No issues with rate limit
Moz Pro settings are not changed

We are looking for your help to identify the issue.

Thanks

[gilesd]

@davidmooore

Thanks for your trouble shooting tips.
I assure you there has been nothing changed in robots.txt file or any settings in MozPro.
And there is frequency limit, Site Crawler triggers only once in 2 weeks.

Thanks

[davidmooore]

Hi, gilesd

In Moz Pro, when using the Site Crawler or Recrawl, we also received a message indicating the site was banned. However, the on-demand crawler could generate the report successfully.

To address your question:

Robots.txt Configuration: Both the Site Crawler and on-demand crawler should be using the same robots.txt file unless there's been a recent change. Ensure your robots.txt hasn't been updated to block specific user agents.

IP Blocking or Rate Limiting: Some web servers or security settings might block or limit access based on IP or request frequency. The Site Crawler might be hitting these limits, whereas the on-demand crawler, being less frequent, avoids these blocks.

Moz Pro Settings: Double-check the Moz Pro settings to see if there have been any changes or updates to how the Site Crawler operates compared to the on-demand crawler. Any recent updates might have altered how the Site Crawler interacts with your site.

Thanks,
Hamza Zubair

[davidmooore]

Hi, gilesd

In Moz Pro, when using the Site Crawler or Recrawl, we also received a message indicating the site was banned. However, the on-demand crawler could generate the report successfully.

To address your question:

Robots.txt Configuration: Both the Site Crawler and on-demand crawler should be using the same robots.txt file unless there's been a recent change. Ensure your robots.txt hasn't been updated to block specific user agents.

IP Blocking or Rate Limiting: Some web servers or security settings might block or limit access based on IP or request frequency. The Site Crawler might be hitting these limits, whereas the on-demand crawler, being less frequent, avoids these blocks.

Moz Pro Settings: Double-check the Moz Pro settings to see if there have been any changes or updates to how the Site Crawler operates compared to the on-demand crawler. Any recent updates might have altered how the Site Crawler interacts with your site.

Thanks,
Hamza Zubair