meta-externalads
Crawls for uses such as improving Meta's advertising and other business products and services. Not an AI search or answer crawler, so it is not scored.
Where this comes from
- Documented by the vendor. Source: developers.facebook.com
- Honours robots.txt.
- Listed, not scored. It cannot keep a site out of today's answers, so the check shows a block without deducting for it.
In the top 1,000 websites
Not measured in the October 2026 study of the top 1,000 websites.
What blocking it costs
A block costs points, because the score counts every crawler that can feed AI search or answers.
The robots.txt lines
To let it in (a group that names the crawler replaces any wildcard rules for it, so this also lifts a User-agent: * block):
User-agent: meta-externalads
Allow: /To keep it out:
User-agent: meta-externalads
Disallow: /A rule in robots.txt is a request. Meta AI says this crawler honours it. The robots.txt generator writes a whole file with the same split: block the training crawlers, keep the search and answer crawlers.
Also from Meta AI
meta-externalagent· AI answersmeta-webindexer· AI search indexmeta-externalfetcher· Fetches when a user asksFacebookBot· Retired token
Does meta-externalads get through on your site?
Run the free check: it reads your robots.txt against all 60 crawlers and tells you which ones can read you, and what to change.