Cookiebot

Generally no. Security scanners help identify vulnerabilities and protect the broader web ecosystem. Many scanners report findings directly to website owners, providing free security assessments. Only block them if they're too aggressive or you already have comprehensive security monitoring.

If you want to, you can block or limit Cookiebot's access by configuring user agent token rules in your robots.txt file. The best way to do this is using Automatic Robots.txt, which update automatically as new agents are discovered. While the vast majority of agents operated by reputable companies honor these robots.txt directives, bad actors may choose to ignore them entirely. In that case, you'll need to implement alternative blocking methods such as firewall rules or server-level restrictions. You can verify whether Cookiebot is respecting your rules by setting up Agent Analytics to monitor its visits to your website.

Blocking security scanners won't directly affect SEO rankings, but it could indirectly impact your site's security posture. Compromised websites often face search engine penalties or warnings. Security scanners help identify vulnerabilities, so blocking them might increase your risk exposure.

Security scanners may probe both public and private areas to identify vulnerabilities. Some focus only on publicly accessible pages, while others may attempt to access login pages, administrative interfaces, API endpoints, and other potentially sensitive areas. The scope depends on the scanner's configuration and whether it's been authorized to test protected resources.

Setting up Agent Analytics will give you realtime visibility into Cookiebot visiting your website, along with hundreds of other AI agents, crawlers, and scrapers. This will also let you measure human traffic to your website coming from AI search and chat LLM platforms like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Cookiebot may have targeted your site as part of internet-wide security scanning, through automated discovery of your domain, or because your site was specifically submitted for security assessment. Your site could also be included in regular monitoring if you use their security services.

Agent Analytics authenticates agent visits from many agents, letting you know whether each one was actually from that agent, or spoofed by a bad actor. This helps you identify suspicious traffic patterns and make informed decisions about blocking or allowing specific user agents.