How is this different from Google Analytics?

Google Analytics shows you traffic. Shadow shows you traffic, AI bot activity, what AI platforms say about your brand, AND tells you what to do about all of it. It's analytics + AI intelligence + action steps in one tool.

Do I need to install anything?

For basic monitoring (bot detection, AI perception, readiness score) — nope, just enter your URL. For full visitor analytics (clicks, behavior, sessions), add one script tag. One-click integrations for Vercel, Shopify, WordPress, and more.

Will it slow down my site?

No. The script is under 5KB and loads async. Zero impact on page speed or Core Web Vitals. External monitoring has literally no impact — it watches from the outside.

What AI bots does Shadow detect?

All of them. GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, Bytespider, Amazonbot, and dozens more. The Shadow Network means new bots get identified across all users instantly.

What do you mean by "actionable steps"?

Shadow doesn't just show you graphs. It says things like: "ChatGPT has your pricing wrong — add structured data to /pricing to fix it" or "Your bounce rate on /features is 68% — here's why and what to change." Specific, do-it-today recommendations.

Can Shadow block bots?

Shadow is a telescope, not a shield. It shows you who's visiting and what AI says about you. It generates block rules and robots.txt configs you can apply — but it doesn't intercept traffic.

Yes. Shadow never collects PII. IP addresses are hashed after classification. No cookies on your visitors. All Shadow Network data is anonymized. GDPR compliant by design.

How do I block MJ12bot?

Add this to your robots.txt file: User-agent: MJ12bot / Disallow: /

Does MJ12bot respect robots.txt?

Yes, MJ12bot by Majestic respects robots.txt directives.

SEO Respects robots.txt

MJ12bot

by Majestic First seen: 2004-01

About

Majestic's web crawler that builds one of the web's largest link intelligence databases, used by SEO professionals worldwide. Majestic's data is increasingly consumed by AI-powered SEO tools and marketing agents. As large language models are integrated into SEO workflows, content indexed by MJ12bot can be surfaced, summarised, or compared by AI systems without direct page visits. Known to be among the most aggressive crawlers by volume.

Purpose

Link intelligence database and AI SEO tool support

User Agent String

MJ12bot/v1.4.8 (http://majestic.com/research/majestic-12?V=1.4.8)

How to Control in robots.txt

🚫 Block MJ12bot

User-agent: MJ12bot
Disallow: /

✅ Allow MJ12bot

User-agent: MJ12bot
Allow: /

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