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Verification

Isometric diagram of two cubes joined by a green trace that travels out and returns along a second path, forming a closed round-trip loop.

July 25, 2026 · 9 min read

Reverse DNS lookup: how bot verification actually works

Reverse DNS lookup maps an IP to a hostname, but verifying a crawler needs forward-confirmed reverse DNS. Here is how FCrDNS proves a bot is real.

Nik A.
Founder

Isometric diagram of a solid green block beside an identical block drawn in dashed hidden lines: a verified crawler and its spoofed double.

Verification Jul 25, 2026

How to verify Googlebot (and catch spoofed bots)

A user-agent string is not proof. Learn the layered way to verify Googlebot with reverse DNS, published IP ranges, and Web Bot Auth signatures.

Isometric diagram of a cube with a circular keyed port set into one face, a signed request arriving as a chain of linked beads.

Verification Jul 25, 2026

What is Web Bot Auth? A plain-English guide to signed bot traffic

Web Bot Auth is an emerging IETF method that lets bots and AI agents cryptographically sign their HTTP requests so sites can verify them. Here is how the handshake works and why it beats user-agent strings.

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