Meta · Other
facebookexternalhit
Identify facebookexternalhit by its user agent. Check request identity, review robots.txt controls and track visits in Aiola Analytics.
Key facts
facebookexternalhitWhat facebookexternalhit is
facebookexternalhit gathers shared-page metadata for link previews on Facebook, Instagram, and Messenger. It may bypass robots.txt for security or integrity checks.
In Aiola's taxonomy, Other means fetched for ads or link previews rather than answering, indexing, or training.
facebookexternalhit user agent
Look for the match token inside the complete HTTP User-Agent header. Tokens can be spoofed, so use the network checks below for authentication.
facebookexternalhit/1.1 (+http://www.facebook.com/externalhit_uatext.php)facebookexternalhitOfficial IP ranges
Meta's network is identified here as AS32934. ASN ownership is a useful signal, not a bot-specific allowlist; combine it with the User-Agent and request behavior.
Verify a facebookexternalhit request
For facebookexternalhit, check AS32934 network ownership alongside the user-agent token and request behavior. An ASN cannot authenticate one bot.
Network ownership covers more than this crawler identity. Use your own request controls and review the vendor documentation before allowing traffic.
Control facebookexternalhit with robots.txt
Meta documents crawler controls for this bot family. Robots.txt can direct cooperative crawling, but it cannot prove that a request is authentic.
User-agent: facebookexternalhit
Allow: /User-agent: facebookexternalhit
Disallow: /Aiola Analytics
See every facebookexternalhit visit on your site
Aiola tracks 70 AI, search and link-preview crawlers next to your human traffic. See when facebookexternalhit arrives, which pages it requests and how that changes over time. Hosted Analytics needs Pro or a trial.
Common questions
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