sohu.com: what it tells AI crawlers
On 27 October 2026, sohu.com's robots.txt partly blocked GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, Claude-SearchBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot and CCBot.
Last verified 2026-10-28 03:59 UTC (daily run of 2026-10-27). Proof for that day.
- Panel
- top 1k (Tranco)
- robots.txt
- ok (HTTP 200) · https://www.sohu.com/robots.txt
unchanged since 2026-10-26 · sha25606a2166c549a518e…· view as recorded - The * group
- blocks applies to every agent without its own group
Per AI bot, 2026-10-27
| User agent | Verdict | How |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | partial | named in its own group |
| OAI-SearchBot | partial | named in its own group |
| ChatGPT-User | partial | named in its own group |
| ClaudeBot | partial | named in its own group |
| Claude-SearchBot | partial | named in its own group |
| Claude-User | partial | named in its own group |
| PerplexityBot | partial | named in its own group |
| Perplexity-User | partial | named in its own group |
| Googlebot | allows | named in its own group |
| Google-Extended | partial | named in its own group |
| Applebot-Extended | partial | named in its own group |
| CCBot | partial | named in its own group |
| Bytespider | allows | named in its own group |
| Meta-ExternalAgent | partial | named in its own group |
| Amazonbot | partial | named in its own group |
| AddSearchBot | partial | named in its own group |
| anthropic-ai | partial | named in its own group |
| Applebot | partial | named in its own group |
| Claude-Web | partial | named in its own group |
| cohere-ai | partial | named in its own group |
| DeepSeekBot | partial | named in its own group |
| Diffbot | partial | named in its own group |
| DuckAssistBot | partial | named in its own group |
| FacebookBot | partial | named in its own group |
| facebookexternalhit | partial | named in its own group |
| FirecrawlAgent | partial | named in its own group |
| Gemini-Deep-Research | partial | named in its own group |
| Google-Agent | partial | named in its own group |
| Google-CloudVertexBot | partial | named in its own group |
| meta-externalfetcher | partial | named in its own group |
| MistralAI-User | partial | named in its own group |
| omgili | partial | named in its own group |
| YouBot | partial | named in its own group |
Other signals
| Publishes /llms.txt | not observed |
| Publishes /ai.txt | not observed |
| Publishes /.well-known/tdmrep.json | not observed |
| Reserves TDM rights (TDMRep file, header or meta) | not observed |
| Declares Content Signals (robots.txt or header) | not observed |
| Says ai-train=no in a Content Signal | not observed |
| Points to an RSL licence (robots.txt License line or Link header) | not observed |
| Answers with an x402 payment offer (lower bound: only the homepage is probed) | not observed |
| Answers HTTP 402 Payment Required (lower bound: only the homepage is probed) | not observed |
| Sends noai / noimageai directives | not observed |
| Refused our fetcher (403 / challenge) | no |
robots.txt as recorded sha256 e0f833439076ae36…
User-agent: Baiduspider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: YisouSpider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: Bytespider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /integration-api/*?* Allow: /public-api/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: msnbot Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: ToutiaoSpider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /integration-api/*?* Allow: /public-api/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: bingbot Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: DingTalkBot Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: Pinterestbot Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: sogou web spider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: 360Spider Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: Mediapartners-Google Disallow: /*?* Allow: /a/*?* Allow: /abroad_a/*?* Allow: /picture/*?* Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?* Allow: /collection/*?* Allow: /ab_a/*?* Allow: /classic*?* Allow: /?*$ Allow: /new*?* Allow: /business*?* Allow: /it*?* Allow: /fashion*?* Allow: /leaening*?* Allow: /health*?* Allow: /yule*?* Allow: /mt*?* Allow: /travel*?* Allow: /baobao*?* Allow: /chihe*?* Allow: /cul*?* Allow: /history*?* Allow: /gov*?* Allow: /gongyi*?* Allow: /police*?* Allow: /mil*?* Allow: /acg*?* Allow: /astro*?* Allow: /game*?* Allow: /pets*?* Allow: /sports*?* Allow: /subject/*?* Allow: /xtopic/*?* Allow: /xchannel/*?* Allow: /kindfeed/*?* Allow: /kindlist/*?* Allow: /sitemap/*?* User-agent: * Disallow: /
robots.txt versions
| From | Through | State | Version | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-10-26 | 2026-10-27 | ok 200 | 06a2166c549a |
Timeline of changes
| Date | What changed |
|---|---|
| No changes since the first observation (2026-10-26). | |
Reconstructed history (Common Crawl)
From Common Crawl's robots.txt captures: what CCBot was served, one crawl per quarter. A separate series from the daily observations above; a 403 here means Common Crawl was refused, not this ledger.
| Crawl | Host | State | GPTBot | OAI-SearchBot | ChatGPT-User | ClaudeBot | Claude-SearchBot | Claude-User | PerplexityBot |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2026-09-21 CC-MAIN-2026-39 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2025-09-15 CC-MAIN-2025-38 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2024-09-16 CC-MAIN-2024-38 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2023-10-02 CC-MAIN-2023-40 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2022-10-03 CC-MAIN-2022-40 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2021-09-27 CC-MAIN-2021-39 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2020-09-28 CC-MAIN-2020-40 | www.sohu.com | ok view | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks | blocks | unknown | blocks |
| 2019-09-23 CC-MAIN-2019-39 | www.sohu.com | ok view | allows | allows | unknown | allows | allows | unknown | allows |
| 2018-09-24 CC-MAIN-2018-39 | www.sohu.com | ok view | allows | allows | unknown | allows | allows | unknown | allows |
| 2017-09-25 CC-MAIN-2017-39 | www.sohu.com | ok view | allows | allows | unknown | allows | allows | unknown | allows |
| 2017-01-23 CC-MAIN-2017-04 | www.sohu.com | soft404 | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |
| 2016-10-03 CC-MAIN-2016-40 | www.sohu.com | soft404 | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |
| 2016-09-05 CC-MAIN-2016-36 | www.sohu.com | soft404 | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown | unknown |
Evidence
Every daily observation of sohu.com is a leaf in that day's Merkle tree. Proof of the robots.txt line for 2026-10-27: audit path (JSON), day root and OpenTimestamps proof (complete (bitcoin block 973493)).
API: https://infrarabbit.com/crawlers/api/v1/policy/sohu.com