🤖 Overview

Pulsebot, also referred to as MozBot, is a web crawler operated by Moz, Inc. (formerly SEOmoz), a leading provider of search engine optimization (SEO) software. Its primary purpose is to collect publicly accessible webpage data to power Moz’s suite of SEO tools, including the Link Explorer, Domain Authority scoring, Page Authority metrics, and the Moz Pulse real-time monitoring service. According to Moz’s official help guide at https://moz.com/help/guides/mozbot, the crawler has been active since the company’s early days and is one of the most widely recognized legitimate SEO-focused bots.

🌐 Technical Behavior

Pulsebot performs HTTP GET requests to fetch web pages, typically at a rate of up to 10 requests per second per IP address, though the exact crawl frequency can vary based on site responsiveness and server load. The bot uses a combination of IP ranges that Moz publishes on its FAQ page; common ranges include 204.15.209.0/24 and 50.31.240.0/20, though administrators should verify against Moz’s current IP list at https://moz.com/help/guides/mozbot/faq#ip-addresses. The crawler follows standard HTTP protocols, respects Cache-Control and ETag headers, and supports gzip compression. It prioritizes crawling links found in sitemaps and follows redirect chains up to a configurable depth, typically stopping after 10 hops. Traffic is distributed over multiple subnets to avoid overwhelming any single origin server.

📋 robots.txt Compliance

Based on documented evidence from Moz’s own support pages (https://moz.com/help/guides/mozbot/respecting-robots-txt), Pulsebot fully honors the robots.txt exclusion standard. It reads and caches the robots.txt file for each domain at the start of a crawl and regularly re-fetches it (typically every 24 hours) to adhere to any updated Disallow directives. There are no reports of Pulsebot ignoring robots.txt rules; Moz explicitly states that their crawler respects all standard exclusion rules.

🔍 Detection Indicators

The primary User-Agent string used by Pulsebot is Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MozBot/1.0; +https://moz.com/help/guides/mozbot) and a newer version Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MozBot/2.0; +https://moz.com/help/guides/mozbot). In older logs, the bot may appear as Pulsebot/1.0 or simply Pulsebot. Behavioral fingerprints include a consistent request pattern of fetching one URL every ~100-200 milliseconds during bursts, and the bot’s IP addresses always resolve to Moz’s owned prefixes. No custom headers are used, but the User-Agent and From header (when present) provide clear identification.

📊 Data Usage

The data collected by Pulsebot is used exclusively for Moz’s SEO analytics products. This includes building the Link Index (a massive database of hyperlinks across the web), calculating Domain Authority and Page Authority scores, and generating competitive analysis reports. Moz does not use this data for any AI training or third-party resale; it is purely for search engine optimization metrics. The information is aggregated and anonymized before being made available to Moz subscribers through tools like Open Site Explorer and Moz Pro.

⚙️ Rate Limiting Policy

Although Pulsebot is a legitimate and rate-limited crawler, it can generate significant traffic on large websites or those with many pages linked in external databases. Administrators are justified in implementing threshold-based rate limiting (e.g., blocking IPs after 500 requests per minute) to protect server resources, as Moz itself recommends allowing the bot but recognizes that sites may need to throttle it to prevent overload.

ⓘ Data Notice: The information presented above has been compiled from publicly available internet sources. Boteraser aggregates this data solely for informational purposes and does not independently classify, evaluate, or endorse any findings about the bots listed. The accuracy and completeness of this information is the sole responsibility of the original publishers. Boteraser and its operators accept no liability for any decisions made based on this data.