There will always be rogues that get through or new and better bots. You can’t block all of them but you CAN keep your server load down and your access streamlined to your target audience. For instance putting this in an .htaccess file will block a good amount:

SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^abot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^aipbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^asterias" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^EI" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^libwww-perl" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^LWP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^lwp" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^MSIECrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^nameprotect" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^PlantyNet_WebRobot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "^UCmore" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Alligator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "AllSubmitter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Anonymous" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Asterias" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "autoemailspider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Badass" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Baiduspider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "BecomeBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Bitacle" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "bladder\ fusion" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Blogshares\ Spiders" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Board\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Board\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Convera" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ConveraMultiMediaCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "c-spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DA" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DnloadMage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Demon" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Express" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Download\ Wonder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "dragonfly" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DreamPassport" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DSurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "DTS Agent" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EBrowse" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "eCatch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "edgeio" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Email\ Extractor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmailSiphon" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmailWolf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "EmeraldShield" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ESurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Exabot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ExtractorPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FileHeap!\ file downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FileHound" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Forex" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Franklin\ Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FreshDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FrontPage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "FSurf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gaisbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gamespy_Arcade" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "genieBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GetBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GetRight" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Gigabot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Go!Zilla" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Go-Ahead-Got-It" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "GOFORITBOT" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "heritrix" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HLoader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HooWWWer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "HTTrack" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "iCCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ichiro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "iGetter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "imds_monitor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Industry\ Program" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Indy\ Library" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "InetURL" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "InstallShield\ DigitalWizard" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "IRLbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "IUPUI\ Research\ Bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Jakarta" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Java" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "jeteye" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "jeteyebot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "JoBo" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "JOC\ Web\ Spider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Kapere" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Larbin" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LeechGet" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "LightningDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Linkie" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mac\ Finder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mail\ Sweeper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mass\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MetaProducts\ Download\ Express" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Microsoft\ Data\ Access" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Microsoft\ URL\ Control" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missauga\ Locate" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missauga\ Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missigua Locator" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Missouri\ College\ Browse" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mister\ PiX" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MovableType" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozi!" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozilla/3.0 (compatible)" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; MSIE 5.0)" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MSIE_6.0" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MSIECrawler" badbot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MVAClient" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MyFamilyBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "MyGetRight" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NASA\ Search" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Naver" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NaverBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NetAnts" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NetResearchServer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NEWT\ ActiveX" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nextopia" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NICErsPRO" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "NimbleCrawler" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nitro\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Nutch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Offline\ Explorer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "OmniExplorer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "OutfoxBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "P3P" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PagmIEDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "pavuk" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PHP\ version" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "playstarmusic" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Program\ Shareware" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Progressive Download" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "psycheclone" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "puf" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PussyCat" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "PuxaRapido" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Python-urllib" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RealDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RedKernel" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "relevantnoise" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RepoMonkey\ Bait\ &\ Tackle" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "RTG30" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SBIder" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "script" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Seekbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SiteSnagger" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SmartDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "sna-" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Snap\ bot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SpeedDownload" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Sphere" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "sproose" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "SQ\ Webscanner" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Stamina" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Star\ Downloader" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Teleport" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "TurnitinBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "UdmSearch" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "URLGetFile" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "User-Agent" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "UtilMind\ HTTPGet" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebAuto" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebCapture" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "webcollage" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebCopier" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebFilter" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebReaper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Website\ eXtractor" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebStripper" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WebZIP" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wells\ Search" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WEP\ Search\ 00" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wget" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Wildsoft\ Surfer" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WinHttpRequest" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "WWWOFFLE" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Xaldon\ WebSpider" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Y!TunnelPro" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "YahooYSMcm" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Zade" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "ZBot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "zerxbot" bad_bot
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "Zeus" bad_bot

<Limit GET POST>
order allow,deny
allow from all
deny from env=bad_bot
</Limit>

Just add this to your .htaccess file.

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This entry was posted on Saturday, May 19th, 2007 at 9:42 am and is filed under Programming.