Safe Official docs Search Engines

Yandex Object Answer

Operated by Yandex

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
YandexOntoDB
Category:
Search Engines
Operator:
Yandex
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:
2/10
Official docs:
yandex.com

Confirmed by the operator

Yandex names YandexOntoDB 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 Yandex Object Answer?

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

Yandex Object Answer is an AI search-index crawler operated by Yandex. It collects and indexes web content so it can be surfaced as citations or answers inside Yandex's AI search experience. Allowing Yandex Object Answer can increase your visibility in AI-powered search results, which is why most sites choose to permit it.
Yandex Object Answer uses the user-agent token YandexOntoDB. 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 Yandex Object Answer?

🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking Yandex Object Answer 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 Yandex Object Answer with robots.txt

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

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: YandexOntoDB Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: YandexOntoDB Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: YandexOntoDB Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block Yandex Object Answer if ($http_user_agent ~* "YandexOntoDB") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block Yandex Object Answer SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "YandexOntoDB" 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 Yandex Object Answer safe to allow?

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

What does Yandex Object Answer do?

Understanding Yandex Object Answer'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 Yandex Object Answer?
The official user-agent string for Yandex Object Answer is: YandexOntoDB. 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 Yandex Object Answer by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP.
Is Yandex Object Answer safe?
Yes, Yandex Object Answer is a safe and legitimate crawler operated by Yandex. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Will blocking Yandex Object Answer hurt my SEO?
🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking Yandex Object Answer 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 Yandex Object Answer in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:
User-agent: YandexOntoDB
Disallow: /

This instructs Yandex Object Answer not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does Yandex Object Answer respect robots.txt?
Yandex Object Answer is operated by Yandex 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 Yandex Object Answer is crawling my site?
Search your web server access logs for the string YandexOntoDB (case-insensitive: grep -i "YandexOntoDB" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Filter by user-agent in your log analytics tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

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