How to block bots and crawlers from your Framer site

Framer site owners have been reporting significant bandwidth consumption from AI crawlers recently. New bots like GPTBot, ClaudeBot, and PerplexityBot are continuously scanning sites to gather training data.

These AI crawlers can bring valuable traffic through AI-powered search features—users increasingly discover content via ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity, making these bots important for visibility. Being included in AI training datasets and search results can significantly expand your reach. However, if your Framer hosting is hitting bandwidth limits or you prefer to control which bots access your content for any reason, this guide shows you exactly how to implement effective bot controls.

For those who want to manage bot access on their Framer sites while maintaining the benefits of selective crawler access, this guide walks you through a proven implementation strategy.

Why controlling bot access matters for Framer sites

• Bandwidth management: AI crawlers can consume multiple gigabytes per day, potentially pushing you toward higher hosting tiers
• Content control: Decide whether your original content becomes training data for AI models
• Strategic bot filtering: Allow essential search engines while managing resource-heavy scrapers and analysis tools

Meta tags provide an effective solution for achieving these goals on Framer sites, giving you granular control over bot behavior.

How bot behavior affects your Framer site

Understanding which bots access your site helps you make informed blocking decisions. Essential crawlers like Googlebot and Bingbot power your search visibility, while social platform bots enable proper link sharing previews.

The recent explosion of AI bots presents a different situation. Crawlers such as GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), and PerplexityBot scan sites for training datasets or real-time search capabilities. These bots enable content discovery through AI assistants—a growing source of traffic—but consume more resources than traditional search engines while crawling your content.

The good news: meta tags with "noindex, nofollow" directives provide effective control over these bots, preventing both content indexing and follow-on crawling through internal links.

Bot control code generator for Framer

Since Framer automatically generates robots.txt files that cannot be manually edited, we've developed a tool that creates custom HTML code to effectively control bot access. The generator produces properly formatted meta tags that give you comprehensive bot management capabilities.

How the generator works

Our tool displays common bots with simple checkboxes:

• Search crawlers: Googlebot, bingbot, DuckDuckBot (typically allowed)
• AI model trainers: GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot, Bytespider
• AI search crawlers: PerplexityBot, OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot
• SEO analyzers: AhrefsBot, SemrushBot, MJ12bot
• Social platform bots: facebookexternalhit, Twitterbot, LinkedInBot

Select which bots to block, leave others unchecked to permit access, then click Generate Code. The tool creates optimized meta tags with "noindex, nofollow" directives that effectively manage bot behavior.

[CODE GENERATOR INTERFACE WILL BE INSERTED HERE]

Take the generated code and implement it through Framer's custom code sections. The generator ensures proper syntax that legitimate bots will recognize and respect, providing reliable bot control for your site.

Implementing effective bot controls in Framer

Framer's architecture makes meta tags your primary tool for bot management. While Framer generates robots.txt automatically (which you cannot edit), meta tags provide powerful control that works effectively for most sites' needs.

How meta tags protect your Framer site

Meta tags with "noindex, nofollow" directives offer substantial protection by:

• Preventing your content from being indexed in AI training datasets
• Stopping bots from following internal links (significantly reducing follow-on crawling)
• Providing granular control over which bots can use your content
• Working immediately with no cost or complex setup

How it works: When bots encounter these tags, they stop indexing your content and won't follow internal links to discover new pages. While bots can still access pages directly through sitemaps or external links, the 'nofollow' directive prevents them from crawling deeper through your internal navigation—for most Framer sites, this substantially reduces overall bot traffic.

Option 1: Site-wide bot control in Framer (recommended)

For comprehensive bot management affecting all pages simultaneously, implement controls through Framer's site-wide custom code feature. This approach provides consistent protection across your entire site.

Access global custom code settings:

1. Enter your Site Settings in Framer
2. Navigate to the General tab
3. Find the Custom Code section
4. Add code to the Start of <head> tag field

Place your bot control code from the generator in this section.

5. Save your configuration
6. Publish to apply protection across your entire site

Option 2: Page-specific bot control in Framer

Perfect for targeting high-traffic pages like blogs or resource centers where bots concentrate their crawling activity, while keeping other pages fully accessible for maximum discoverability.

Steps for page-specific implementation:

1. Navigate to your Framer project
2. Open Site Settings from the top-right menu
3. Select the specific page from the left sidebar
4. Locate the Custom Code section

Insert your bot control meta tags here.

5. Click Save to preserve your changes
6. Publish your Framer site to activate the bot controls

Pro tip: Start with site-wide implementation for consistent protection, then remove restrictions from specific pages where you want maximum AI visibility.

Confirming your bot controls in Framer

Verification ensures your bot blocking works as intended. After publishing, open your site in a browser, right-click and choose View Page Source (or use Ctrl+U on PC or Cmd+Option+U on Mac). Search for your meta tags in the <head> area of the HTML.

Your meta tags should appear exactly as configured, with specific "noindex, nofollow" directives for each bot you're controlling.

Keep in mind that compliant bots typically honor new directives within 48-72 hours of implementation. Most legitimate AI and search crawlers respect these tags reliably.

Advanced protection with WAF services for Framer sites (when needed)

Meta tags provide effective bot control for most Framer sites, however, for sites experiencing exceptional bandwidth consumption or requiring network-level blocking, Web Application Firewall (WAF) services offer an additional layer of protection.

Solutions like Cloudflare intercept bot traffic at the network edge, preventing server requests entirely. This premium approach offers:

• Maximum bandwidth protection: Bots never reach your Framer hosting
• Non-compliant bot defense: Stops scrapers that might ignore meta tag directives
• Precise filtering options: Control access by user agents, IP blocks, or behavioral patterns

Most Framer sites won't need this level of protection—meta tags handle bot control effectively for typical use cases. However, for high-traffic sites or those with strict bandwidth requirements, WAF implementation provides enterprise-grade protection.

Implementing Cloudflare or comparable WAF services involves DNS management and configuration beyond Framer's native capabilities. If you need professional WAF setup and advanced bot management strategies, our Framer agency provides expert implementation of network-level protections and custom solutions tailored to your specific needs.

Frequently asked questions about blocking bots on Framer sites

Which bots consume the most bandwidth on Framer sites?

The primary bandwidth consumers are AI training crawlers including GPTBot (OpenAI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), CCBot (Common Crawl), and PerplexityBot (Perplexity AI). These bots scan content for machine learning datasets or AI-powered search. Traditional search crawlers like Googlebot use resources more efficiently and remain crucial for organic search visibility, making them poor candidates for blocking.

How can I block AI crawlers without harming SEO on my Framer site?

Meta tags make this straightforward—add "noindex, nofollow" directives specifically for AI bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, etc.) while keeping search engines unrestricted. You can even add explicit "index, follow" directives for Googlebot and Bingbot to ensure they continue crawling normally. This targeted approach preserves search rankings while effectively managing AI bot traffic.

Why can't I edit robots.txt directly in Framer?

Framer automatically generates and optimizes your robots.txt file to ensure consistent site performance and SEO compliance. While this prevents manual editing, meta tags provide equally effective bot control with even more granular options. If robots.txt are a hard requirement, using Cloudflare or other Web Application Firewalls (WAFs), you can implement powerful bot blocking rules that go beyond traditional robots.txt limitations on Framer.

How do I track bot activity on my Framer website?

Framer's native analytics display overall traffic patterns but don't separate bot visits from human traffic. To monitor bot activity specifically, implement Google Analytics 4 with bot filtering enabled, or utilize Cloudflare's analytics if routing through their network. These platforms reveal which bots access your site most frequently and help you optimize your blocking strategy based on actual traffic data.

Final thoughts

The meta tag implementation presented here provides effective, free bot control that works reliably for most Framer sites. Start with site-wide meta tags for comprehensive protection, then fine-tune based on your specific needs and traffic patterns.

For sites experiencing significant bandwidth challenges despite meta tag implementation, WAF solutions provide network-level blocking. But remember: most Framer sites achieve their bot management goals with meta tags alone.

Looking for expert assistance with advanced bot management or Framer site optimization? Our Framer agency delivers sophisticated technical solutions including WAF integration, custom bot filtering strategies, and performance optimization tailored to your specific requirements.