Slack

Other bots

Slackbot-LinkExpanding

Reads a page's meta tags to show a preview when someone posts its link in Slack.

Ignores robots.txt
User agent token
Slackbot-LinkExpanding
Operator
Slack
Verification
None published
Source
Slack documentation

What a bot for ads, link previews or SEO tools does

These bots work for a specific product: checking an ad's landing page, drawing the preview when a link is shared, or collecting data for an SEO tool. Some only visit because the site owner asked them to.

Slack says it does not read robots.txt, since it acts for a person and does not follow links.

Block or allow Slackbot-LinkExpanding in robots.txt

Add one of these to the robots.txt file at the root of your domain. Crawlers read it before they fetch anything else.

Block Slackbot-LinkExpanding

User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding
Disallow: /

Allow Slackbot-LinkExpanding

User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding
Allow: /

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Questions, answered.

Slackbot-LinkExpanding is a bot for ads, link previews or SEO tools run by Slack. Reads a page's meta tags to show a preview when someone posts its link in Slack.

No. Slack says robots.txt does not apply to Slackbot-LinkExpanding. Slack says it does not read robots.txt, since it acts for a person and does not follow links.

Add "User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding" and "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt. Since robots.txt may not stop it, block it at your firewall or server too.

Slack publishes no IP list for Slackbot-LinkExpanding, so it can only be recognised by its user agent, which other bots can copy.

No. Slackbot-LinkExpanding works for one product, such as ad checks, link previews or SEO data, rather than bringing visitors.

Only if you don't use the product it works for. Blocking Slackbot-LinkExpanding is safe for your search rankings.

In its own documentation at https://api.slack.com/robots. Every fact on this page comes from there.

Still have questions? We're happy to help.

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