The proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) bots that access and extract data from websites has raised significant concerns in terms of technical performance and search engine optimization (SEO). These bots, used by companies to gather information and train AI models, impose considerable loads on web infrastructures and affect the online visibility of affected sites.
Technical impact on the performance of web infrastructures
Intensive AI bot activity can overload servers, leading to performance degradation and an unsatisfactory user experience. For example, the Wikimedia Foundation (Wikipedia) has experienced a 50% increase in c level contact list bandwidth usage for media downloads since January 2024, largely attributed to bots collecting data to train AI models. This overload not only increases operational costs but can also lead to downtime and slowdowns, negatively impacting user perception and the website's reputation.
Additionally, open source software (FOSS) projects have been targeted by crawlers that ignore guidelines set out in robots.txt files, accessing costly endpoints like 'git blame' and full Git logs. These crawlers use random user agents and multiple IP addresses to mimic legitimate traffic, making them difficult to detect and block.
Consequences for search engine optimization (SEO)
The presence of AI bots also has direct implications for website SEO. Mass scraping can result in content duplication, where the original material is replicated on other sites without authorization. This can lead to search engine penalties, decreasing the visibility and ranking of the affected website.
Furthermore, bot-generated traffic can distort analytics metrics, making it difficult to accurately assess actual user behavior and the effectiveness of implemented SEO strategies. Server overload due to bot activity can also negatively impact page load speed, a critical factor for search engine rankings and user retention.
Mitigation measures and optimization strategies
To counteract the negative effects of AI bots on performance and SEO, the following strategies can be considered:
Implement anti-bot solutions : Use advanced bot management tools that identify and block unauthorized traffic, protecting content and preserving the integrity of analytics metrics.
Optimizing your robots.txt file : Update and strengthen the guidelines in your robots.txt file to limit access by unwanted bots, although keep in mind that some may ignore these guidelines. But be careful, one of these bots may be the Google of the future, so the decision won't be easy.
Constant traffic monitoring : Implement monitoring systems to detect unusual traffic patterns that may indicate the presence of bots, enabling a quick and effective response.
Server performance optimization : Improve server infrastructure to handle high loads and ensure fast response times, minimizing the impact of potential overloads.
Content review and updating : Ensure that the site's content is original and of high quality, and regularly monitor the website to identify and report cases of unauthorized duplication.
