# IonCrawl

IonCrawl is an intelligence-gathering web crawler operated by the global web hosting and cloud services provider IONOS. It collects public data from websites to be used for business intelligence purposes, such as brand sentiment analysis, market research, and competitive intelligence. It is a well-behaved crawler that respects `robots.txt` and operates within standard web practices.

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## What is IonCrawl?

IonCrawl is an intelligence-gathering web crawler from IONOS, a major web hosting and cloud services company. It functions as a data collection tool, systematically browsing websites to gather information for various business intelligence applications. The crawler identifies itself in server logs with the user-agent string containing the token `IonCrawl`. It is designed to be an ethical crawler that adheres to standard web protocols, including respecting `robots.txt` directives.


## Why is IonCrawl crawling my site?

IonCrawl is visiting your website to collect data that serves IONOS's business intelligence objectives. This may include monitoring for brand mentions, gathering market research data, or tracking industry trends. The frequency of its visits is adaptive and may increase when it is tracking time-sensitive information. The crawling is part of the normal ecosystem of bots that gather publicly available information and is considered an authorized activity within standard web practices.


## What is the purpose of IonCrawl?

The purpose of IonCrawl is to support IONOS's data aggregation and business intelligence services. The information it collects is used for applications such as brand sentiment analysis and competitive market research, providing valuable insights to IONOS and its clients about their online presence. Unlike search engine crawlers that directly impact a site's visibility and traffic, IonCrawl's purpose is more focused on intelligence gathering rather than influencing search rankings.


## How do I block IonCrawl?

To prevent IonCrawl from accessing your website, you can add a disallow rule for it in your `robots.txt` file. This is the standard method for managing access for legitimate web crawlers.

Add the following lines to your `robots.txt` file to block IonCrawl:

```
User-agent: IonCrawl
Disallow: /
```


## Related agents and operators


## Canonical

Human friendly, reader version of this article is available at [IonCrawl](https://plainsignal.com/agents/ioncrawl)

## Copyright

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