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 xAI-Bot?

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

Does xAI-Bot respect robots.txt?

Yes, xAI-Bot by xAI (Elon Musk) respects robots.txt directives.

AI Training Respects robots.txt

xAI-Bot

by xAI (Elon Musk) First seen: 2024-02

About

xAI's web crawler used to train Grok, the AI assistant embedded in X (formerly Twitter). Particularly active on news, social commentary, and real-time topics given Grok's focus on current events. One of the fastest-growing AI crawlers since its 2024 launch.

Purpose

AI model training for Grok — real-time knowledge and news indexing

User Agent String

Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; xAI-Bot/1.0; +https://x.ai/grok)

How to Control in robots.txt

🚫 Block xAI-Bot

User-agent: xAI-Bot
Disallow: /

✅ Allow xAI-Bot

User-agent: xAI-Bot
Allow: /

Complete Guide: How to Block xAI-Bot

Server-level blocking, nginx configs, Cloudflare rules, Next.js middleware, and more →

Is xAI-Bot crawling your site?

Run a free scan to check if xAI (Elon Musk)'s crawler is accessing your website.

Check if xAI-Bot is crawling YOUR site →