Web crawlers exposed: How to protect your website from bots!

Web crawlers exposed: How to protect your website from bots!

On October 1, 2025, a new development in the handling of crawler bots on News Corp Australia's websites caused a stir. According to a report by Herald Sun The company is now advancing the management of crawler bot traffic with the help of specialized software. This could be particularly important for users who have difficulty accessing content because they are accidentally identified as bots.

Does this concern you? There are ways to bypass the ban if this happens to you. The experts recommend deactivating temporary blockers such as AdBlockers or script blockers. You should also make sure that your browser supports JavaScript and is always up to date. If you would like to continue accessing the content, you can send an email to accessissues@news.com.au providing your IP address (85.13.166.126) and reference number (0.25171202.1759274103.3c472abd).

The role of crawlers and bots

But what exactly are crawlers and bots? Loud Dev.to Web crawlers are automated programs that interact with online content to achieve various purposes. Their main task includes indexing websites for search engines such as Google and Bing, which ensures that relevant search results are available more quickly.

Crawlers search the Internet systematically and follow links from one page to the next. The information collected is stored in databases, making it accessible at any time. Their politeness guidelines also ensure that they respect the rules of the websites, which ideally leads to harmonious cooperation. But not all bots are friendly!

• Gute Bots: Dazu gehören Überwachungsbots, die die Leistung von Webseiten testen, oder Kundenservice-Bots, die gebräuchliche Fragen beantworten.
• Schlechte Bots: Diese können die Server überlasten oder Sicherheitslücken ausnutzen, was zu großen Problemen führen kann.

Detecting the bots

JavaScript is often used to detect these bots. An example of this is the `detectRobot` function, which can use regular expressions to determine whether it is a bot. Such functions are useful for identifying different user agent strings that bots such as “Googlebot” or “Bingbot” recognize. The integration of this logic is possible on both the server and client side, which enables flexible handling. You can find more information about this at Stack Overflow.

With the increasing influence of crawlers and bots in our everyday digital lives, it is becoming increasingly important to understand how these technologies work and what role they play in efficient Internet use. Whether it's indexing content or uncovering security vulnerabilities, the world of bots and crawlers is complex and presents both opportunities and challenges.