Generates link previews when your URLs are shared socially.
Recommended action: Allow access. Blocking breaks social sharing previews.
Category
Preview Bot
Primary use case
Social media link previews
Trust level
Caution advised
Trust Levels
- Trusted
- Generally safe
- Review recommended
- Caution advised
Trust levels are an indication based on category, operator, and robots.txt compliance. Always review bot activity for your specific situation.
Learn how we assess trustrobots.txt
Not respected
WhatsApp Traffic (Last 90 Days)
What is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp's preview bot fetches link metadata when someone shares a URL in a WhatsApp chat. It reads Open Graph tags to display a title, description, and thumbnail image.
What WhatsApp means for your site
Every visit from WhatsApp means someone shared your URL on Meta. The bot fetches your page to generate the link preview card (title, image, description) that appears in the conversation or feed. These are valuable visibility signals that traditional analytics miss entirely. High preview bot activity indicates your content is being shared and discussed.
What should you do?
- Allow WhatsApp, blocking breaks link previews
- Ensure Open Graph meta tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) are set on key pages
- Monitor share patterns to identify which content resonates
- Use BotSights to track social shares that Google Analytics misses
See WhatsApp on your own site
BotSights tracks every WhatsApp visit in real time, including which pages it crawls, how often, and from where.
How to identify WhatsApp
WhatsApp uses the user-agent "whatsapp". It does not respect robots.txt, which is normal for preview bots since they need access to generate link cards.
whatsappWhatsAppHow to block WhatsApp
Three robots.txt options below. Pick the one that matches your goal. Each snippet lists every known WhatsApp user-agent pattern so the rules apply regardless of which one the bot announces. Note: WhatsApp does not respect robots.txt. These snippets are documented for completeness, but you will need server- or firewall-level rules (Cloudflare WAF, NGINX, .htaccess) to actually stop it.
Edit robots.txt with care
A single misplaced line can de-index your entire site. Common mistake: pasting User-agent: * followed by Disallow: / blocks every bot, not just WhatsApp, including Googlebot. Always paste the snippet between existing rules (not over them), keep the User-agent line scoped to WhatsApp's patterns, and verify with Google's robots.txt tester before deploying. If you are not sure, ask a developer first.
Option 1: Block all access
Tells WhatsApp not to crawl any URL on your site. Use this when you want the bot completely off your content.
User-agent: whatsapp
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /Option 2: Block specific paths only
Keep public content crawlable but exclude sensitive or non-public sections. Add one Disallow: line per path. Replace the example paths with your own.
User-agent: whatsapp
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /checkout/Option 3: Slow down with a crawl delay
Crawl-delay is a voluntary directive that asks the bot to wait the given number of seconds between requests. Useful when WhatsApp is hammering your origin and slowing the site down for real visitors, but you do not want to block it outright. The value is in seconds, so 10 means at most one request every ten seconds. Not all bots honour this directive (Googlebot ignores it; Bingbot, Yandex, and many AI crawlers do respect it).
User-agent: whatsapp
User-agent: WhatsApp
Crawl-delay: 10Frequently Asked Questions
What is the User-Agent for WhatsApp?
WhatsApp identifies itself with the User-Agent string "whatsapp" (alternate forms: WhatsApp). This is the signature you will see in server logs when someone shares one of your URLs.
Does a visit from WhatsApp mean my link was shared?
Yes. Each visit represents a share event on Meta — someone either sent your URL in a private chat or posted it publicly. This is real share-volume data that traditional analytics like Google Analytics never see, because the visit happens server-to-server.
Should I block WhatsApp?
No. Blocking prevents link preview cards from rendering when your URLs are shared on Meta. Shared links without preview cards look broken and get fewer clicks. Always allow preview bots.
How do I improve how my link preview looks on Meta?
Add Open Graph meta tags to your pages: og:title (max ~60 chars), og:description (max ~155 chars), og:image (recommended 1200×630px PNG/JPEG). For X/Twitter add the twitter:* equivalents. Test with Facebook's Sharing Debugger or LinkedIn Post Inspector.
What image dimensions work best for WhatsApp?
1200×630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) is the safest size that renders well on most platforms. Keep file size under 5MB and use PNG or JPEG. Avoid text near the edges since some platforms crop.
Why does my link preview show the wrong image?
Meta cache previews aggressively. After updating og:image, use the operator's debugger tool (e.g. Facebook Sharing Debugger, LinkedIn Post Inspector, X Cards Validator) to force a re-fetch, or add a query string to bust the cache.
Does WhatsApp respect robots.txt?
No. WhatsApp does not respect robots.txt — preview bots typically must access the page to render the share card. This is industry standard for preview fetchers.
Detect social shares that analytics tools miss
Every visit from WhatsApp means someone shared your link. BotSights tracks these invisible shares so you know which content resonates.
- See when your links are shared on social platforms
- Track which pages get shared most
- Discover social traffic your analytics can't see
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