# Webz.io **Category:** Training | **Operated by:** Webz.io Webz.io's crawler (historically "Omgilibot"), collecting public web and forum content for the datasets it sells. --- ## At a glance | Property | Value | |---|---| | Operator | Webz.io | | Category | Training | | User-Agent token | `omgili` (also counted: `omgili`, `webz.io`) | | robots.txt token | `Omgilibot` | | Respects robots.txt | Documented as compliant | > **Note:** The robots.txt token and the user agents do not match. You will see `omgili` or `webz.io` in your logs, but the token to disallow is `Omgilibot` — a leftover from the Omgili-to-Webz.io rename. Webz.io no longer serves the old crawler information page it used to link from its user agent. --- ## What Webz.io does Webz.io is a web-data provider rather than an AI company: it crawls the open web — with a long-standing focus on forums, message boards and other discussion content — and sells the results as feeds and datasets. Buyers include companies that train models on them, so this is a training-adjacent crawler one step removed. It states its crawlers adhere to robots.txt exclusions. --- ## Should you block Webz.io? Blocking keeps your content out of a dataset resold to third parties you will never see, which is the whole reason to block it. As with any pure data broker there is no answer engine at the other end, so nothing about your search or AI visibility changes either way. --- ## How to block Webz.io Add the rule below to the `robots.txt` file at the root of your domain (`yourdomain.com/robots.txt`). Use the `Omgilibot` token rather than the raw User-Agent string, and repeat the rule on every subdomain you want covered. **Block Webz.io:** ``` User-agent: Omgilibot Disallow: / ``` **Allow Webz.io explicitly:** ``` User-agent: Omgilibot Allow: / ``` > **Note:** `robots.txt` is a request, not a lock — it works because well-behaved crawlers choose to read it. It also isn't retroactive: anything already fetched stays fetched. If you need a hard stop, block at your firewall or CDN as well. --- ## How MetaPilot handles Webz.io MetaPilot detects Webz.io in your edge logs, so you see its real hits on your real pages rather than a guess: how often it visits, which URLs it takes, and how that trend moves week to week. From the same screen you flip Webz.io between allow and deny with one click — MetaPilot rewrites only its own managed section of your `robots.txt` and serves it at the edge, so the change is live on the crawler's next visit with no deploy and no touching your own rules. --- ## Related crawlers - **ClaudeBot** (Anthropic) — Training: Anthropic's bulk crawler, collecting public web content that may be used to develop and train Claude. - **Applebot-Extended** (Apple) — Training: Apple's AI opt-out token, telling Apple not to use content Applebot already crawled to train its foundation models. - **Bytespider** (ByteDance) — Training: ByteDance's web crawler, gathering content to train the large language models behind its products. - **CCBot / Common Crawl** (Common Crawl) — Training: The crawler behind Common Crawl, the free public web archive that a great many AI models are trained on. --- ## FAQ **What is Webz.io?** Webz.io's crawler (historically "Omgilibot") collects public web and forum content for the datasets it sells. It crawls the open web — with a focus on forums and discussion content — and sells results as feeds and datasets to companies that may train AI models on them. **Does Webz.io respect robots.txt?** Yes — Webz.io documents that it honours `robots.txt`. A `Disallow` for the `Omgilibot` token is respected. Note the mismatch between the user agent strings (`omgili`/`webz.io`) seen in logs and the `Omgilibot` token used in robots.txt. **How do I block Webz.io?** Add `User-agent: Omgilibot` and `Disallow: /` to your `robots.txt`. Use the `Omgilibot` token, not the raw User-Agent string, and repeat on every subdomain. **Will blocking Webz.io hurt my traffic?** No. Webz.io is a pure data broker with no answer engine — blocking it has no effect on search or AI visibility.