Does Amzn-SearchBot train Amazon's AI models?

No. Amazon states that Amzn-SearchBot does not crawl content for generative AI model training. Amazonbot is the Amazon agent whose data may train Amazon AI models.

What happens if my robots.txt doesn't mention Amzn-SearchBot?

Amazon says that if robots.txt doesn't name it but allows other search bots, Amzn-SearchBot crawls according to the rules given to those bots. Amazon doesn't say which bots it means, so name Amzn-SearchBot explicitly if you want a predictable result.

Does blocking Amazonbot also block Amzn-SearchBot?

No. Amazon says each of its user agent settings is independent. A Disallow for Amazonbot leaves Amzn-SearchBot governed by its own group (or its fallback).

How quickly does Amzn-SearchBot pick up a robots.txt change?

Amazon says changes can take about 24 hours to be reflected, and its bots may use a cached copy of robots.txt from the last 30 days.

Amazon · AI search

Amzn-SearchBot: Amazon's search crawler for Alexa, and how to allow it

Amzn-SearchBot is Amazon's search crawler: it is used to improve search experiences in Amazon products and services, and allowing it makes your content eligible to appear in experiences such as Alexa. Amazon says it does not crawl content for generative AI model training. It follows robots.txt, falls back to the rules you give other search bots when not named, and does not support Crawl-delay.

robots.txt token: Amzn-SearchBot
User agent: Mozilla/5.0 AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko; compatible; Amzn-SearchBot/0.1) Chrome/W.X.Y.Z Safari/537.36
Operator: Amazon
Type: AI search
What it feeds: Search experiences in Amazon products and services, making permitted content eligible to appear in places such as Alexa.
Follows robots.txt: Yes. Amazon says it follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol, and if robots.txt doesn't name Amzn-SearchBot but allows other search bots, it follows the rules given to those bots. It does not support crawl-delay.
How to verify it: Match the request IP against Amazon's published Amzn-SearchBot IP addresses (list)

Should you block Amzn-SearchBot?

Blocking Amzn-SearchBot makes your content ineligible for Amazon search experiences such as Alexa answers. Since Amazon says it doesn't crawl for generative AI training, blocking it buys no training protection; that is Amazonbot's role. Most businesses that want to be recommended by Alexa should allow it.

Block Amzn-SearchBot

User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
Disallow: /

Allow Amzn-SearchBot

User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
Allow: /

Add these lines to /robots.txt at your site root. A group naming Amzn-SearchBot replaces your User-agent: * rules for it, so repeat any paths you also want it to skip.

Live check

Is Amzn-SearchBot allowed on your site?

Amzn-SearchBot and Amazon's other agents

Amazon documents three user agents, each with its own robots.txt setting:

Token	What it does	Used for AI training?
Amzn-SearchBot	Crawls for search experiences in Amazon products, such as Alexa	No, per Amazon
Amazonbot	Crawls to improve Amazon products and services	May be
Amzn-User	Fetches live pages when a user asks something, such as an Alexa query needing current information; may not follow all robots.txt rules	No, per Amazon

This is the same split other operators use between search and training bots (compare OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot): you can allow Amzn-SearchBot for visibility and block Amazonbot for training without one affecting the other.

What blocking it does, and what it doesn't

Amazon frames access as eligibility: "By permitting Amzn-SearchBot access to your website, your content is eligible to appear in search experiences such as Alexa." Block it and that eligibility goes. It doesn't change anything about training, because Amzn-SearchBot isn't used for it, and it doesn't stop Amzn-User live fetches, which Amazon says may not follow every robots.txt directive.

How to allow or block it

The fallback is the quirk to watch. If your robots.txt has no Amzn-SearchBot group but allows other search bots, Amzn-SearchBot follows the rules you gave them. Amazon doesn't list which bots count, so the safest move is an explicit group:

User-agent: Amzn-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: Amazonbot
Disallow: /

Swap Allow for Disallow to block it. Other points from Amazon's page:

No crawl-delay. It is not supported.
Timing. Changes take about 24 hours, and a cached robots.txt up to 30 days old may be used.
Per host. Each subdomain needs its own robots.txt.
Meta tags. Amazon's bots honor rel=nofollow and the noarchive, noindex and none robots meta tags, so noindex keeps a single page out of the index without a robots.txt block.

Verifying a real Amzn-SearchBot visit

Amazon publishes a separate IP list for Amzn-SearchBot, distinct from Amazonbot's. Check the source IP against it; Amazon's page names no reverse DNS method. The documented user agent is labeled an example, with W.X.Y.Z as a version placeholder, so match on Amzn-SearchBot. To see how your current file treats it, including the fallback case, try the robots.txt checker.

Questions

Does Amzn-SearchBot train Amazon's AI models?: No. Amazon states that Amzn-SearchBot does not crawl content for generative AI model training. Amazonbot is the Amazon agent whose data may train Amazon AI models.
What happens if my robots.txt doesn't mention Amzn-SearchBot?: Amazon says that if robots.txt doesn't name it but allows other search bots, Amzn-SearchBot crawls according to the rules given to those bots. Amazon doesn't say which bots it means, so name Amzn-SearchBot explicitly if you want a predictable result.
Does blocking Amazonbot also block Amzn-SearchBot?: No. Amazon says each of its user agent settings is independent. A Disallow for Amazonbot leaves Amzn-SearchBot governed by its own group (or its fallback).
How quickly does Amzn-SearchBot pick up a robots.txt change?: Amazon says changes can take about 24 hours to be reflected, and its bots may use a cached copy of robots.txt from the last 30 days.

Related crawlers

Sources

Checked against these pages on 2026-10-18. Operators change their crawlers; check the source before relying on a detail.

Amazonbot - Amazon Developer