🍽️ The Complete Cloudflare Bot Management Buffet

Everything You Need to Know About Allowing Bots in 2025

A comprehensive, all-you-can-learn guide to fixing Google Search Console timeouts, LinkedIn bot access issues, and mastering Cloudflare's bot settings

🎯 Welcome to the Bot Management Buffet!

Just like a buffet where everyone finds what they need, this guide serves up solutions for every bot access problem you might encounter. Whether you're a beginner trying to understand why Google can't crawl your site, or an expert troubleshooting complex bot configurations, there's something here for everyone. Grab your plate and dig in!

🤖 Understanding Bots & Why They Matter

What Are Bots and Why Should You Care?

Bots are automated programs that visit websites to perform various tasks. Think of them as digital workers that never sleep, constantly crawling the internet to:

Googlebot Indexes your site for search results
LinkedInBot Creates link previews and validates profiles
FacebookBot Generates social media previews
TwitterBot Creates Twitter card previews
BingBot Indexes for Bing search results
AI Crawlers Collect data for AI training

🎯 The Bottom Line

If bots can't access your site, you're invisible to search engines, social media platforms can't create previews, and your online presence suffers dramatically. It's like having a store with no doors - nobody can get in to see what you're selling!

Good Bots vs. Bad Bots

Not all bots are created equal. Understanding the difference is crucial for proper configuration:

✅ Good Bots (Allow These)

  • Search Engine Crawlers: Google, Bing, Yahoo, DuckDuckGo
  • Social Media Bots: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Pinterest
  • Monitoring Services: Uptime monitors, SEO tools
  • Legitimate AI: OpenAI (with permission), research bots

❌ Bad Bots (Block These)

  • Scrapers: Content thieves, price scrapers
  • Spam Bots: Comment spam, form submission bots
  • Attack Bots: DDoS bots, vulnerability scanners
  • Unauthorized AI: Bots ignoring robots.txt

☁️ Cloudflare Bot Protection Overview

The Cloudflare Bot Protection Ecosystem

Cloudflare offers multiple layers of bot protection, each with different capabilities and aggressiveness levels. Understanding these layers is key to proper configuration:

Basic Level
No Protection

All bots allowed through. Only recommended for development or if you have custom bot management.

Level 1
Bot Fight Mode

Basic bot detection with challenges for suspicious traffic. Free tier option.

Level 2
Super Bot Fight Mode

More aggressive detection with machine learning. Can block legitimate bots if misconfigured.

Level 3
Bot Management (Enterprise)

Full customization and granular control. Most expensive but most flexible.

⚠️ The July 2025 Game Changer

In July 2025, Cloudflare made significant changes to their bot protection defaults. Many sites that were working fine suddenly started experiencing bot access issues. If your site worked before July 2025 but started having problems after, this guide will fix it!

📅 July 2025 Changes That Broke Everything

What Cloudflare Changed

On July 1, 2025, Cloudflare rolled out several changes that caught many website owners off guard:

July 1, 2025
AI Bot Blocking by Default

Cloudflare began blocking AI crawlers by default across all plans. This affected more than just AI bots due to overly broad detection.

July 1, 2025
Managed robots.txt

Cloudflare started automatically managing robots.txt files, sometimes overriding custom configurations.

July 2, 2025
Enhanced Bot Fight Mode

Super Bot Fight Mode became more aggressive, challenging more legitimate traffic.

July 15, 2025
Verified Bot Changes

Changes to how verified bots are handled, causing some legitimate crawlers to be blocked.

🔍 Real-World Impact

These changes caused widespread issues including:

  • Google Search Console showing "Connection timed out" errors
  • LinkedIn unable to generate link previews
  • Social media platforms failing to create cards
  • SEO tools unable to crawl sites
  • Legitimate monitoring services being blocked

🚨 Immediate Fixes for Common Issues

The "My Site Worked Yesterday" Emergency Kit

If your site suddenly started having bot access issues, here are the immediate fixes to try first:

🔥 Emergency Fix #1: Disable Super Bot Fight Mode

  1. Log into your Cloudflare dashboard
  2. Select your domain
  3. Go to Security > Settings
  4. Find "Super Bot Fight Mode"
  5. Toggle it to OFF
  6. Wait 5-10 minutes for changes to propagate

Why this works: Super Bot Fight Mode is often too aggressive and blocks legitimate crawlers even when they're on the verified bots list.

🔥 Emergency Fix #2: Check AI Bot Blocking

  1. In the same Security > Settings section
  2. Find "Block AI bots"
  3. Ensure it's set to "Do not block (off)"
  4. If it's blocking, toggle it off

Why this works: The AI bot blocking feature can be overly broad and block legitimate crawlers that it misidentifies as AI bots.

🔥 Emergency Fix #3: Verify robots.txt

  1. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt
  2. Check if it contains Disallow: /
  3. If it does, this is blocking all bots
  4. Go to Security > Settings in Cloudflare
  5. Find "Manage AI bot traffic with robots.txt"
  6. Toggle it OFF temporarily

Why this works: Cloudflare's managed robots.txt might be overriding your custom settings.

✅ Quick Test

After making these changes, test immediately:

  • Visit your robots.txt file to ensure it's not blocking everything
  • Check Google Search Console for new crawl attempts
  • Test LinkedIn link preview by sharing your URL
  • Use a tool like Google's robots.txt Tester

⚙️ Complete Settings Breakdown

Every Cloudflare Bot Setting Explained

Here's every bot-related setting in Cloudflare, what it does, and how to configure it properly:

Bot Fight Mode

Recommended: OFF

What it does: Basic bot detection that challenges suspicious traffic with CAPTCHAs or computational challenges.

When to use: Only if you're experiencing significant bad bot traffic and understand the risks.

Risks: Can challenge legitimate API traffic and mobile apps.

Super Bot Fight Mode

⚠️ Often Problematic

What it does: Advanced bot detection using machine learning. More aggressive than basic Bot Fight Mode.

When to use: Only for sites with severe bot problems and dedicated technical support.

Risks: Frequently blocks legitimate crawlers, even verified ones.

Block AI bots

Recommended: OFF

What it does: Blocks bots identified as AI crawlers (GPTBot, ChatGPT-User, etc.).

When to use: If you specifically don't want AI companies training on your content.

Risks: Can misidentify legitimate crawlers as AI bots.

Manage AI bot traffic with robots.txt

Recommended: ON

What it does: Automatically updates your robots.txt to include AI bot directives.

When to use: When you want Cloudflare to handle robots.txt management.

Risks: May override your custom robots.txt settings.

Verified bots

Recommended: ALLOW

What it does: Allows bots that Cloudflare has verified as legitimate (Google, Bing, etc.).

When to use: Always, unless you have specific reasons to block search engines.

Risks: None - this should always be enabled.

Static resource protection

Recommended: OFF

What it does: Protects CSS, JS, and image files from bot access.

When to use: Rarely - can break website functionality.

Risks: Can prevent legitimate crawlers from accessing resources needed to render pages.

🎯 The Golden Configuration

For most websites, the ideal configuration is:

  • Bot Fight Mode: OFF
  • Super Bot Fight Mode: OFF
  • Block AI bots: OFF (unless you specifically want to block AI)
  • Manage AI bot traffic with robots.txt: ON
  • Verified bots: ALLOW
  • Static resource protection: OFF

📋 Step-by-Step Configuration Guide

The Complete Setup Process

Follow this comprehensive guide to configure your Cloudflare bot settings properly:

Phase 1: Access Your Settings

  1. Log into your Cloudflare dashboard at dash.cloudflare.com
  2. Select your domain from the list
  3. Navigate to Security in the left sidebar
  4. Click on Settings (not "Bots" - that's different)
  5. You should see various security settings including bot-related options

Phase 2: Configure Bot Fight Modes

  1. Find the "Super Bot Fight Mode" section
  2. If it shows as "ON" or "Always active", click the toggle to turn it OFF
  3. Find the "Bot Fight Mode" section (if present)
  4. Ensure this is also set to OFF
  5. Look for any confirmation dialogs and confirm the changes

Phase 3: Configure AI Bot Settings

  1. Locate the "Block AI bots" section
  2. Check the current setting - it should show "Do not block (off)"
  3. If it's set to block, click to change it to "Do not block (off)"
  4. Find "Manage AI bot traffic with robots.txt"
  5. This should be ON (enabled) for most sites

Phase 4: Verify Verified Bots

  1. Look for the "Verified bots" setting
  2. This should be set to "Allow"
  3. If it's set to anything else, change it to Allow
  4. This ensures Google, Bing, LinkedIn, and other legitimate crawlers can access your site

Phase 5: Check Additional Settings

  1. Look for "Static resource protection"
  2. This should be set to OFF for most sites
  3. Check for any other bot-related settings and ensure they're not overly restrictive
  4. Save any changes if prompted

Phase 6: Test and Verify

  1. Wait 5-10 minutes for changes to propagate globally
  2. Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt to check your robots.txt file
  3. Test with Google Search Console (if you have it set up)
  4. Try sharing your URL on LinkedIn to test link previews
  5. Use online tools to test bot access

✅ Verification Checklist

After configuration, verify these items:

  • □ robots.txt is accessible and not blocking everything
  • □ Google Search Console shows successful crawls
  • □ LinkedIn can generate link previews
  • □ Social media platforms can access your site
  • □ SEO tools can crawl your pages

🔍 Google Search Console Timeouts

The "Connection Timed Out" Problem

One of the most common issues after Cloudflare's July 2025 changes is Google Search Console showing connection timeout errors. Here's how to diagnose and fix this:

🚨 Symptoms

  • Google Search Console shows "Connection timed out" errors
  • Crawl stats show declining or zero successful crawls
  • Pages not being indexed despite being submitted
  • Site performance insights showing connection issues

✅ Solutions

  • Disable Super Bot Fight Mode immediately
  • Ensure verified bots are set to "Allow"
  • Check that AI bot blocking isn't affecting Googlebot
  • Verify robots.txt isn't blocking Google

🔍 Deep Dive: Why This Happens

Google Search Console timeouts typically occur because:

  1. Super Bot Fight Mode is challenging Googlebot with computational puzzles
  2. AI bot detection is misidentifying Googlebot as an AI crawler
  3. Rate limiting is too aggressive for Google's crawl patterns
  4. Managed robots.txt is inadvertently blocking Google

Google Search Console Fix Protocol

  1. Immediate Action: Disable Super Bot Fight Mode
  2. Check Settings: Verify all bot settings using the guide above
  3. Test robots.txt: Use Google's robots.txt tester tool
  4. Monitor: Watch Search Console for 24-48 hours
  5. Request Crawl: Use "Request Indexing" for important pages
  6. Verify Fix: Check crawl stats for improvement
# Example of a proper robots.txt file that allows Google: User-agent: * Allow: / User-agent: Googlebot Allow: / # Sitemap location Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

💼 LinkedIn Bot Access Problems

When LinkedIn Can't See Your Links

LinkedIn uses bots to generate link previews and validate profile links. When these are blocked, you lose social media visibility and professional credibility.

🚨 LinkedIn Bot Issues

  • No link previews when sharing URLs
  • Profile links showing as "unavailable"
  • Company page links not working
  • LinkedIn unable to verify website ownership

✅ LinkedIn Bot Solutions

  • Ensure LinkedInBot is in verified bots list
  • Disable aggressive bot protection
  • Check Open Graph meta tags
  • Verify robots.txt allows LinkedIn

🔍 LinkedIn Bot Details

LinkedIn uses several bots for different purposes:

  • LinkedInBot: Main crawler for link previews
  • LinkedIn-Bot: Alternative user agent
  • facebookexternalhit: Sometimes used for certain features

All of these should be automatically allowed if "Verified bots" is set to "Allow" in Cloudflare.

LinkedIn Bot Fix Protocol

  1. Disable Bot Protection: Turn off Super Bot Fight Mode
  2. Verify Settings: Ensure verified bots are allowed
  3. Test robots.txt: Make sure it's not blocking LinkedIn
  4. Check Meta Tags: Ensure proper Open Graph tags
  5. Test Preview: Use LinkedIn's Post Inspector tool
  6. Clear Cache: LinkedIn may cache old results

🤖 robots.txt Best Practices

The Foundation of Bot Communication

Your robots.txt file is the first thing bots check when visiting your site. Getting this right is crucial for proper bot access.

🎯 robots.txt Fundamentals

The robots.txt file tells bots what they can and cannot access on your site. It's located at yourdomain.com/robots.txt and must be accessible to all bots.

Common robots.txt Configurations

✅ Allow All Bots (Recommended)

User-agent: * Allow: / Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

This allows all bots to crawl your entire site. Best for most websites.

🎯 Selective Bot Access

User-agent: * Allow: / User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: / Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Allows most bots but blocks specific AI crawlers.

🔒 Restricted Access

User-agent: * Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: / User-agent: Googlebot Allow: / Sitemap: https://yourdomain.com/sitemap.xml

Blocks access to specific directories while allowing general crawling.

❌ Block All (Dangerous)

User-agent: * Disallow: /

Warning: This blocks ALL bots, including search engines. Only use during development.

⚠️ Cloudflare Managed robots.txt

When "Manage AI bot traffic with robots.txt" is enabled, Cloudflare may modify your robots.txt file. This can sometimes override your custom settings. If you need full control over robots.txt, consider disabling this feature and managing the file manually.

robots.txt Troubleshooting Steps

  1. Check Current File: Visit yourdomain.com/robots.txt
  2. Verify Accessibility: Ensure the file loads without errors
  3. Test with Tools: Use Google's robots.txt Tester
  4. Check Cloudflare Settings: See if managed robots.txt is overriding
  5. Update if Needed: Modify through your hosting provider or Cloudflare
  6. Monitor Results: Watch for changes in bot access

✅ Verified Bots Deep Dive

Understanding Cloudflare's Verified Bot System

Cloudflare maintains a list of verified bots that are automatically allowed through most protection measures. Understanding this system is crucial for proper configuration.

Googlebot Google's web crawler
Bingbot Microsoft Bing crawler
LinkedInBot LinkedIn's link preview bot
facebookexternalhit Facebook's link scraper
Twitterbot Twitter's card validator
Slackbot Slack's link unfurler
WhatsApp WhatsApp link preview
Applebot Apple's web crawler

🔍 How Verification Works

Cloudflare verifies bots through multiple methods:

  • IP Address Verification: Checking if requests come from known bot IP ranges
  • User Agent Validation: Verifying legitimate user agent strings
  • Reverse DNS Lookup: Confirming the bot's origin domain
  • Behavioral Analysis: Monitoring crawling patterns

When Verified Bots Get Blocked

Even verified bots can be blocked under certain conditions:

🚨 Why Verified Bots Get Blocked

  • Super Bot Fight Mode overrides verification
  • Custom WAF rules blocking bot IPs
  • Rate limiting set too aggressively
  • IP reputation issues
  • Misconfigured security settings

✅ How to Fix Blocked Verified Bots

  • Disable Super Bot Fight Mode
  • Review custom WAF rules
  • Adjust rate limiting settings
  • Whitelist known bot IP ranges
  • Check security event logs

Verified Bot Troubleshooting

  1. Check Security Events: Go to Security > Events in Cloudflare
  2. Look for Bot Blocks: Filter by bot-related events
  3. Identify Patterns: See which bots are being blocked
  4. Review Settings: Check all bot protection settings
  5. Create Exceptions: Add rules to allow specific bots if needed
  6. Monitor Results: Watch for improvements in bot access

🛠️ Custom Rules & Exceptions

Advanced Bot Management

For sites with specific needs, custom rules can provide granular control over bot access while maintaining security.

🎯 When to Use Custom Rules

  • You need to allow specific bots not on the verified list
  • You want to block certain verified bots
  • You have API endpoints that need different bot handling
  • You need to rate limit bots without blocking them

Common Custom Rule Examples

Allow Specific Bot

(http.user_agent contains "YourBotName") Action: Allow

Allows a specific bot by user agent string.

Block Specific Bot

(http.user_agent contains "BadBot") Action: Block

Blocks a specific bot even if it's verified.

Rate Limit Bots

(cf.bot_management.score lt 30) Action: Rate Limit (10 requests per minute)

Rate limits suspicious bot traffic.

API Endpoint Protection

(http.request.uri.path matches "/api/*" and not cf.bot_management.verified_bot) Action: Challenge

Challenges non-verified bots accessing API endpoints.

Creating Custom Bot Rules

  1. Access WAF: Go to Security > WAF in Cloudflare
  2. Create Rule: Click "Create rule"
  3. Set Conditions: Define when the rule applies
  4. Choose Action: Allow, Block, Challenge, or Rate Limit
  5. Test Rule: Use the rule simulator
  6. Deploy: Save and monitor the rule's impact

⚠️ Custom Rule Cautions

Be careful with custom rules:

  • Test thoroughly before deploying to production
  • Monitor rule performance and adjust as needed
  • Document your rules for future reference
  • Review rules regularly as bot behavior changes

📊 Monitoring & Analytics

Keeping Track of Bot Activity

Proper monitoring helps you understand bot behavior, identify issues early, and optimize your configuration over time.

Security Events

Monitor bot-related security events in real-time. Look for patterns in blocked or challenged requests.

Location: Security > Events

Bot Analytics

View detailed analytics about bot traffic, including verified vs. unverified bots.

Location: Analytics > Security

Traffic Analytics

Monitor overall traffic patterns to identify unusual bot activity or attacks.

Location: Analytics > Traffic

Performance Impact

Track how bot protection affects site performance and user experience.

Location: Speed > Optimization

Key Metrics to Monitor

Bot Traffic Volume Total bot requests vs. human traffic
Verified Bot Ratio Percentage of verified vs. unverified bots
Challenge Success Rate How many challenged bots complete challenges
Block Rate Percentage of bot traffic being blocked
False Positives Legitimate traffic incorrectly identified as bots
Response Times Impact of bot protection on site speed

Setting Up Monitoring

  1. Enable Analytics: Ensure all relevant analytics are turned on
  2. Set Baselines: Record normal traffic patterns
  3. Create Alerts: Set up notifications for unusual activity
  4. Regular Reviews: Schedule weekly/monthly analytics reviews
  5. Document Changes: Keep track of configuration changes and their impact
  6. Optimize: Adjust settings based on data insights

✅ Monitoring Best Practices

  • Check security events daily for the first week after configuration changes
  • Monitor Google Search Console for crawl improvements
  • Test social media link previews regularly
  • Set up alerts for significant changes in bot traffic patterns
  • Review and update bot rules quarterly