Slack Link Expander
SafeUser-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding
Category: Social Bots
SEO impact if blocked: 2/10
Slack
2 crawlers operated by Slack
https://slack.com/Who Slack is, for site owners
Slack operates 2 crawlers in our directory, filed under Social Bots and Social Media Bots. Of those 2, 2 rated safe for crawl behaviour.
Blocking Slack carries an SEO impact score of 0/10 to 2/10 across its crawlers. Every crawler here carries the same blocking impact: Low - No SEO ranking impact.
Our recommendation for Slack, set by its least reassuring crawler (Slack Link Expander, rated safe): Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.
Slack at a glance
| Operator | Slack |
|---|---|
| Crawlers in directory | 2 |
| Categories | Social Bots, Social Media Bots |
| SEO impact if blocked | 0/10 to 2/10 |
| Crawl behaviour | 2 rated safe |
| Website | slack.com |
| Official crawler docs | Slack crawler documentation |
Crawlers operated by Slack
Slackbot
SafeUser-agent:
SlackbotCategory: Social Media Bots
SEO impact if blocked: 0/10
How to block or allow Slack in robots.txt
These rules cover all 2 crawlers Slack operates. Add them to the robots.txt file at the root of your domain.
Block Slack completely
User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding
User-agent: Slackbot
Disallow: /
Allow Slack explicitly
User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding
User-agent: Slackbot
Allow: /
robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement mechanism. A crawler that ignores it needs a block at the server or CDN layer. Rules are case-sensitive on the path and matched against the user-agent token, not the full user-agent string.
Frequently asked questions about Slack
What crawlers does Slack run?
Slack operates 2 crawlers in our directory: Slack Link Expander (user-agent Slackbot-LinkExpanding), Slackbot (user-agent Slackbot).
Should I block Slack?
Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value. That guidance follows this operator's least reassuring crawler, Slack Link Expander, rated safe, because allowing an operator allows every crawler it runs. The SEO impact score for blocking is 0/10 to 2/10, where 10 means blocking costs you the most visibility.
How do I block Slack in robots.txt?
Add the following to robots.txt at your domain root: User-agent: Slackbot-LinkExpanding then User-agent: Slackbot then Disallow: /. One Disallow line covers all 2 user-agent tokens.
Does blocking Slack hurt my search rankings?
Every crawler here carries the same blocking impact: Low - No SEO ranking impact. Google's own ranking crawler is Googlebot, which this operator does not run, so blocking Slack does not by itself remove you from Google's index. What it can change is whether AI assistants and analytics tools can read your pages.