CrawlCheck

AI crawlers · Search indexes

ExaSearchBot

ExaSearchBot is the search index crawler run by Exa: Exa AI search index, Web Bot Auth signed. Its operator documents how to verify it: Web Bot Auth — every request is cryptographically signed; directory at crawler.exa.ai/.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory.

User-agent tokenExaSearchBot
OperatorExa
What it doesExa AI search index, Web Bot Auth signed
Kindsearch index crawler
Can a request be verified?Yes — operator documented
Verification sourceWeb Bot Auth — every request is cryptographically signed; directory at crawler.exa.ai/.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory
In a CrawlCheck scanRead from robots.txt; a refusal is scored

Allow or block it in robots.txt

User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: ExaSearchBot
Allow: /

Add a group that names it: "User-agent: ExaSearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names ExaSearchBot, rules under "User-agent: *" no longer apply to it; repeat in that group any Disallow lines you still want.

What blocking it changes

Indirectly. It feeds Exa AI search index, Web Bot Auth signed. A refusal removes pages from that index, and most AI answer surfaces still draw on search indexes.

See what ExaSearchBot and every other named agent receive from your own site: run a free scan. The full catalogue is on AI crawlers and as JSON at /ai-crawlers.json.

Questions about ExaSearchBot

QHow do I block ExaSearchBot in robots.txt?
Add a group that names it: "User-agent: ExaSearchBot" followed by "Disallow: /". A crawler follows only the most specific group that names it, so once a group names ExaSearchBot, rules under "User-agent: *" no longer apply to it; repeat in that group any Disallow lines you still want.
QHow can I tell if a request from ExaSearchBot is real?
Its operator documents how to verify it: Web Bot Auth — every request is cryptographically signed; directory at crawler.exa.ai/.well-known/http-message-signatures-directory.
QDoes blocking ExaSearchBot affect whether my site appears in AI answers?
Indirectly. It feeds Exa AI search index, Web Bot Auth signed. A refusal removes pages from that index, and most AI answer surfaces still draw on search indexes.
QDoes CrawlCheck test my site as ExaSearchBot?
Not as a request. CrawlCheck reads the rules your robots.txt sets for ExaSearchBot and reports them. A refusal of it counts toward the grade, because it costs the site visibility.