Yandex Object Answer

Yandex Object Answer in context

Yandex Object Answer is a search engine crawler operated by Yandex. In plain terms, it builds a search or answer index. Our database files it under search engines and ranks it Tier 3, mid-priority crawlers with a clear purpose but a smaller audience. 62 of the 63 search engines in our database share this tier.

Its safety rating is safe and its blocking impact is not documented. So the decision about Yandex Object Answer rests on what you want from Yandex, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.

How site owners treat Yandex Object Answer

Our robots.txt study of the Tranco top 10,000 did not track YandexOntoDB as a named token, so we do not publish an adoption figure for it. If you run a large site, your own logs are the best evidence of how often it visits.

Does it follow robots.txt?

Yandex Object Answer's operator does not clearly document how it treats robots.txt. Write the Yandex Object Answer rule anyway, then confirm in your logs that its requests stop.

Yandex crawlers and close alternatives

Yandex Object Answer is one of 39 Yandex crawlers in our database. A User-agent: YandexOntoDB group controls Yandex Object Answer only; the other Yandex tokens below need their own lines.

• YandexOntoDB: this crawler (Tier 3)
• YaDirectFetcher: Yandex Direct Fetcher, checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 3)
• Yandex: Yandex, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
• YandexAccessibilityBot: Yandex Accessibility, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
• YandexAdditional: YandexAdditional, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
• YandexAdditionalBot: YandexAdditionalBot, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
• YandexAdNet: Yandex Advertising Network, checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 3)
• YandexBlogs: Yandex Blogs, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
• YandexBot: Yandex Search, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)

To give Yandex Object Answer the same answer as its siblings, stack User-agent: YandexOntoDB with their lines above one set of rules; to treat Yandex Object Answer differently, give it its own group.

Other search engines that do the same job (builds a search or answer index) include Amzn-SearchBot from Amazon, Applebot from Apple, baidu from Baidu, Baiduspider from Baidu, Baiduspider-favo from Baidu, Baiduspider-image from Baidu. Deciding about Yandex Object Answer is usually a decision about the whole group, so check how your file treats these too.

We first recorded YandexOntoDB on September 22, 2026. Yandex documents it on yandex.com, and we recheck that page before each release.

Which rule Yandex Object Answer actually follows

Yandex Object Answer reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names YandexOntoDB, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/

User-agent: YandexOntoDB
Disallow: /drafts/

1. Find the group. Yandex Object Answer looks for a group naming YandexOntoDB. One exists, so it ignores User-agent: * completely.
2. Apply only that group. It is refused /drafts/ and nothing else.
3. The surprise. /private/ is open to Yandex Object Answer, because that rule lives in the * group it no longer reads. To keep it out of both, repeat Disallow: /private/ inside its own group.

Should you allow Yandex Object Answer? Decide by situation

Check Yandex Object Answer on your own site

1. Open /robots.txt on your domain and search for YandexOntoDB. If it is not named, it follows User-agent: *.
2. List the Disallow lines in the group Yandex Object Answer follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, and Allow wins a tie.
3. Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse Yandex Object Answer even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
4. Run our crawlability checker for AI search to see how Yandex Object Answer and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.