Bot Traffic Detection for Your Website: Spot Googlebot, AI Crawlers and Fakes Without Paying for Them as Visitors
Bot traffic detection in LiveChatBot separates real people from crawlers, so your visitor numbers stay honest and your free allowance is not used up by machines. Named crawlers are never counted or billed as visitors, Googlebot and Bingbot are checked against IP ranges, and anything pretending to be Googlebot is marked as fake. It is built in and free to start.
Real screens
See it in the LiveChatBot app
Real screens from the LiveChatBot panel, shown with sample data. Click any picture to see it full size.
⚡ In short
- Named crawlers (Googlebot, Bingbot, AI bots, SEO tools, link previews, headless browsers) are never counted or billed as visitors.
- Googlebot and Bingbot are verified by IP range. A fake claiming to be Googlebot is marked FAKE.
- Choose Strict (default) or Standard bot filtering for each website.
- LiveChatBot shows block rules to copy, but it does not block traffic on your server itself.
What it does
Bot traffic detection that keeps your numbers real
Every public website gets visits from machines. Search engines read your pages. AI companies collect text. SEO tools check links. Scripts and headless browsers poke around. Some are useful, some are harmless and some are fake.
If all of them counted as visitors, your analytics would be wrong, and on a plan with a visitor allowance you could run out of free visitors because of machines.
LiveChatBot’s Reports, then Bots and crawlers, page handles this for you. Named crawlers such as Googlebot, Bingbot, GPTBot and other AI bots, Ahrefs and other SEO tools, link previews and scripts or headless browsers are never counted or billed as visitors. You can still see them, and you can see what they read.
For the wider picture of how bots show up in chat and traffic, read website bot visitors.
How it works
Four steps from detection to action
1. Crawlers are recognised and kept out of visitor counts
The widget sees who is visiting. Named crawlers are labelled and left out of your visitor numbers, and out of your billing.
2. Search engines are verified
Googlebot and Bingbot are checked by IP range. If a visit says it is Googlebot but comes from an address that is not Google’s, it is marked FAKE. That matters, because fake Googlebots are a common way for scrapers to hide.
3. You read the table
The crawler table lists each crawler as verified or fake, whether it is a search or AI crawler, how many pages it reads, a daily chart and when it was last seen. There is also a list of pages Google has not read in 30 days.
4. You choose how strict to be
Each website has a bot filter. Strict is the default. It also holds back data-center and VPN visitors until they act like a person, with mouse movement, touch, keys or scroll, or send a message. Standard is lighter. A held-back list shows who was held, with an It’s a person button if a real visitor was caught.
Extra checks
Alerts, a site check and block rules
Alert on a burst
If one bot makes 300 or more hits in 10 minutes, you get an alert. That is the sort of spike that can slow a small site, so it is worth knowing about quickly.
Site check
The site check reads your sitemap, robots.txt and llms.txt and gives an AI-visibility score. It shows whether crawlers have clear instructions about what they may read.
Copy-ready block rules
For fake crawlers, LiveChatBot gives you a copy-ready .htaccess block. It is copy only. LiveChatBot does not block traffic on your server itself, so you or your host paste the rules where they belong.
Know the terms
Bot words in plain English
Search the list when a term in your report is unfamiliar.
Reading the table
How to read the crawler table without being a technical person
Open the crawler table and look at three things.
Verified or fake
A verified Googlebot or Bingbot is a real search engine. Verified means it came from the right IP range. A fake is something else using the name, and it deserves suspicion, especially if it reads many pages quickly.
Search or AI
Search crawlers decide whether you appear in search results. AI crawlers read pages for AI systems. Whether you want them is your decision. Your robots.txt and llms.txt files are where you give instructions, and the site check shows what it found.
Pages read and last seen
A crawler that reads a handful of pages once a week is quiet. One that reads thousands of pages a day, or appears suddenly, is worth a closer look. The daily chart makes a spike easy to see.
What to do next
If a crawler you trust is missing from new pages, check that those pages are linked and in your sitemap. If a fake keeps returning, copy the .htaccess block and ask your host to apply it.
Who it is for
Who needs bot traffic detection
Owners watching their free allowance
On the free plan you get 100 visitors per website each month. Bot traffic detection means machines do not spend them.
Anyone with odd traffic spikes
A sudden jump at 3 am is often a bot. The 300-hits-in-10-minutes alert helps you spot it.
Content publishers
You can see whether Googlebot is reading your new posts, and which pages Google has not read in 30 days.
People worried about scrapers
Fake crawlers are listed as fake, and you get block rules to copy.
Honest limits
What bot traffic detection here does not do
- It does not block bots on your server. It shows rules to copy; you or your host apply them.
- It cannot promise to catch every bot. Strict mode is cautious, and the held-back list exists because real people are sometimes caught.
- It is not a firewall or a captcha. Use your host’s security tools for that.
- It only sees traffic where the widget is installed.
If you want to see the human side of your traffic, pair it with website visitor analytics.
Getting started
Start bot traffic detection free
Add the LiveChatBot widget to your site and open Reports, then Bots and crawlers. The free plan covers two websites, with 100 visitors per website per month and no per-seat charges. See pricing and sign up at livechatbot.in.
Frequently asked questions
Are crawlers counted as visitors?
No. Named crawlers are never counted or billed as visitors.
How does it tell a real Googlebot from a fake?
Googlebot and Bingbot are verified by IP range. A bot claiming to be Googlebot from another IP is marked FAKE.
What is the difference between Strict and Standard?
Strict is the default and also holds back data-center and VPN visitors until they act like a person or send a message. Standard is lighter.
What if a real person is held back?
Open the held-back list and press It’s a person.
Does LiveChatBot block bots for me?
No. It gives copy-ready .htaccess rules for fake crawlers, but it does not block traffic on your server itself.
Keep reading
Related guides
How to Check if Googlebot Visited My Site: Four Methods, From Search Console to Server Logs, and How to Tell a Fake
How to Spot Fake Website Traffic: 7 Signs in Your Numbers and What to Do About Each One
Keep machines out of your numbers
Bots and crawlers report, fake Googlebot flags and burst alerts. Start free on livechatbot.in.