Safe Official docs Search Engines

Baidu Video Search

Operated by Baidu

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
Baiduspider-video
Category:
Search Engines
Operator:
Baidu
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:
2/10
Official docs:
help.baidu.com

Confirmed by the operator

Baidu names Baiduspider-video on its own documentation page, linked above. The token, purpose and robots.txt behaviour on this profile come from that page, re-checked on September 22, 2026.

What is Baidu Video Search?

Baidu Video Search is an AI search-index crawler operated by Baidu. It collects and indexes web content so it can be surfaced as citations or answers inside Baidu's AI search experience. Allowing Baidu Video Search can increase your visibility in AI-powered search results, which is why most sites choose to permit it.

Baidu Video Search is an AI search-index crawler operated by Baidu. It collects and indexes web content so it can be surfaced as citations or answers inside Baidu's AI search experience. Allowing Baidu Video Search can increase your visibility in AI-powered search results, which is why most sites choose to permit it.
Baidu Video Search uses the user-agent token Baiduspider-video. You can control it via robots.txt, meta tags (noai), or the emerging llms.txt standard. Robots.txt is voluntary; for hard enforcement, combine it with server-level IP blocking.

What happens if you block Baidu Video Search?

🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking Baidu Video Search will not hurt Google or Bing rankings, but it can remove your content from AI search answers and assistant citations powered by this crawler. Block only if you have a deliberate reason.
Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.

How to block Baidu Video Search with robots.txt

<code>User-agent: Baiduspider-video</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: Baiduspider-video Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: Baiduspider-video Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: Baiduspider-video Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block Baidu Video Search if ($http_user_agent ~* "Baiduspider-video") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block Baidu Video Search SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Baiduspider-video" bad_bot Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Deny from env=bad_bot
Meta robots tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
X-Robots-Tag header
X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is Baidu Video Search safe to allow?

Yes, Baidu Video Search is a safe and legitimate crawler operated by Baidu. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Verify by reverse-DNS lookup: legitimate Baidu Video Search requests resolve to Baidu's domain.

What does Baidu Video Search do?

Understanding Baidu Video Search's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

  • Indexes web pages for AI-powered search answers
  • Surfaces your content as citations inside AI search results
  • Builds a knowledge index used to answer user questions
  • Allowing it can increase visibility in AI search
  • Respects robots.txt directives

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for Baidu Video Search?
The official user-agent string for Baidu Video Search is: Baiduspider-video. Use this exact string in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. Matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive. Verify a request genuinely comes from Baidu Video Search by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP.
Is Baidu Video Search safe?
Yes, Baidu Video Search is a safe and legitimate crawler operated by Baidu. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Will blocking Baidu Video Search hurt my SEO?
🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking Baidu Video Search will not hurt Google or Bing rankings, but it can remove your content from AI search answers and assistant citations powered by this crawler. Block only if you have a deliberate reason.
How do I block Baidu Video Search in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:
User-agent: Baiduspider-video
Disallow: /

This instructs Baidu Video Search not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does Baidu Video Search respect robots.txt?
Baidu Video Search is operated by Baidu and is expected to fetch and parse /robots.txt before crawling, following RFC 9309. For hard enforcement, combine robots.txt with server-level IP or user-agent blocking.
How do I verify if Baidu Video Search is crawling my site?
Search your web server access logs for the string Baiduspider-video (case-insensitive: grep -i "Baiduspider-video" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Filter by user-agent in your log analytics tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

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