🤖 Overview

Querit-SearchBot is a web crawler operated by Querit, a privacy-focused search engine based in Europe. Its primary purpose is to index publicly available web content to populate Querit's search results, offering an alternative to larger search engines like Google and Bing. The bot was first documented in 2024 and is considered a legitimate, non-malicious agent.

🌐 Technical Behavior

Querit-SearchBot sends HTTP GET requests with a frequency of approximately 1 request per second per IP, though this may vary based on server response times. It crawls via both IPv4 and IPv6 addresses drawn from a pool of datacenter IPs, primarily in Europe. The bot follows standard HTTP protocols, accepts gzip compression, and respects robots.txt directives. It does not execute JavaScript or render pages, focusing solely on raw HTML content and associated metadata like meta tags and canonical URLs. According to Querit's official documentation at querit.io/crawler, the crawler uses a polite crawl delay of 2 seconds by default but can be adjusted via robots.txt.

📋 robots.txt Compliance

Querit-SearchBot fully honors Robots Exclusion Protocol directives. It reads and obeys both User-agent and Disallow rules, as well as Crawl-delay directives if specified. Evidence from webmaster forums and Querit's own support pages confirms that site owners can block the bot by including User-agent: Querit-SearchBot and Disallow: / in their robots.txt file.

🔍 Detection Indicators

The primary detection method is via the User-Agent string: Querit-SearchBot/1.0 (with possible version increments). It may also include a contact URL such as [email protected] in the User-Agent header or as a separate From header. The bot does not use any custom headers but can be identified by its consistent crawling pattern and lack of browser-like characteristics (e.g., no Accept-Language variations).

📊 Data Usage

Collected data is used exclusively for building Querit's search index, enabling users to find relevant web pages through natural language queries. Querit states that they do not sell or share crawl data with third parties, and they do not use the data for AI model training or advertising purposes. The index is refreshed periodically to maintain up-to-date search results, as detailed in their privacy policy at querit.io/privacy.

⚙️ Rate Limiting Policy

While Querit-SearchBot is legitimate, it can be aggressive if not throttled by the website; therefore, rate limiting is applied to prevent excessive load on server resources. A threshold-based block (e.g., >10 requests per second per IP) is a sensible policy to maintain site performance without unfairly denying access to the crawler.

ⓘ 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.