AI bots keep rising: what does it mean for your website?

This week, AI bots keep rising

AI bots continue to increase their presence on websites with BotLock active. This week, they represent almost 30% of total traffic, which is 55% more than the average of the previous five weeks. This doesn't mean your website is in danger, but it does mean there is more automated activity trying to gather information, test vulnerabilities, or even copy content. Although most of these bots are not malicious, some can cause problems if not controlled. That's why we explain what's happening, why it's happening, and what you can do to protect yourself.

What we've seen in SWPanel

This week (October 21–28, 2026), AI bots have represented 29.7% of total traffic on websites with BotLock active. This is a significant increase compared to previous weeks. In addition, 9% of these bots have been blocked, which accounts for 48.1% of all blocks. This means that although most AI bots are not malicious, a significant proportion are trying to do things they shouldn't, such as copying content or testing vulnerabilities.

On the other hand, human traffic remains the highest, with 55.1% of total traffic, but only 3% of this traffic has been blocked, representing 30.1% of all blocks. This reflects that most human visits are not malicious, but there is a significant amount of unauthorized access attempts or suspicious activities.

It's also important to note that scrapers, which are bots that copy content, have represented 1.2% of total traffic, and only 2.5% of them have been blocked, which accounts for 0.5% of all blocks. Although the percentage is low, you shouldn't ignore them, as they can affect your website's visibility or even steal sensitive information.

And in SWPanel, what's happening?

In SWPanel, the BotLock system is active and working to block malicious bots. This means that although AI bots continue to increase their presence, the system is detecting and blocking those that try to do things they shouldn't. In addition, the system is also monitoring human traffic and other types of bots to prevent them from affecting the security or performance of websites.

How we got here

The evolution of AI bot traffic in the last 6 weeks has been clear: constantly increasing. Here's a summary of the figures:

• 09/16–09/22: 11.7% AI bot traffic (117), with 5% scrapers and 18.3% blocks.
• 09/23–09/29: 11.6% AI bot traffic (116), with -0.9% variation, 4.2% scrapers and 19.1% blocks.
• 09/30–10/06: 18% AI bot traffic (180), with +55.2% variation, 1.2% scrapers and 16.8% blocks.
• 10/07–10/13: 25.8% AI bot traffic (258), with +43.3% variation, 10.2% scrapers and 2.8% blocks.
• 10/14–10/20: 28.4% AI bot traffic (284), with +10.1% variation, 8.3% scrapers and 6.7% blocks.
• 10/21–10/27 (this week): 29.7% AI bot traffic (297), with +4.6% variation, 1.2% scrapers and 5.6% blocks.

The average of the previous 5 weeks is 191, which corresponds to 19.1% AI bot traffic. This week, with a value of 297, we are 55.5% above that average. In addition, it's the highest of the 6 weeks, and we've had 4 consecutive weeks of increase. This indicates a clear trend of increasing AI bot activity.

What's happening behind the numbers

The rise in AI bots is not random. In today's world, AI companies and language model developers need large amounts of data to train their models. For this, they use bots that gather information from the internet, including website content, images, texts, and other resources. Although most of these bots are legitimate and respect robots.txt rules, some try to access content they shouldn't, such as configuration files, private directories, or even login forms.

In addition, some AI bots are designed to copy content without permission, which can affect your website's visibility in search engines or even steal sensitive information. On the other hand, there are also bots that try to test vulnerabilities or brute-force attacks, although these represent a smaller proportion.

The increasing trend is clear, and although it doesn't mean your website is in danger, there is more automated activity that can affect your security or performance. That's why it's important to stay alert and take preventive measures.

What we can expect

If the trend continues, it's likely that AI bots will continue to increase their presence in the coming weeks. Our simple linear projection suggests that next week we could see a value of 357, which would mean a +20.2% increase from this week. This is not an exact prediction, but rather an indicative estimate based on current data.

Optimistic scenario

If AI bots continue to increase, but most of them are legitimate and respect the rules, the impact on your website will be minimal. The BotLock system will continue to block malicious bots, and your website will continue to function without problems.

Pessimistic scenario

If AI bots start to include more malicious bots or if the number of bots trying to copy content or test vulnerabilities increases, you could see an increase in blocks and security alerts. This could affect your website's performance or even its visibility in search engines.

Warning signs to watch for

• An increase in the number of AI bot blocks.
• An increase in the number of attempts to access forms or sensitive files.
• An increase in the number of suspicious requests, such as injections or access to private directories.

How it can affect your website or business

Although AI bots are not necessarily malicious, they can affect your website in several ways:

1. Content theft: If an AI bot copies content from your website without permission, it can affect your visibility in search engines or even steal sensitive information.
2. Unwanted traffic increase: If many AI bots are accessing your website, it can affect performance and load times, which can frustrate real users.
3. Positioning issues: If AI bots don't respect robots.txt rules or try to index content that shouldn't be indexed, it can affect your search engine ranking.

How to protect yourself and prevent issues

Here are some measures you can take to protect yourself:

1. Activate BotLock: If you don't have it active, activate it from the hosting panel. BotLock detects and blocks malicious bots, including AI bots that try to do things they shouldn't.
2. Configure robots.txt: Make sure your robots.txt file is correctly configured to prevent unwanted bots from accessing sensitive content.
3. Use a web firewall: A web firewall filters requests before they reach your application, which can help you block malicious bots.
4. Update CMS and plugins: Make sure your CMS and plugins are up to date to avoid exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
5. Use two-factor authentication (2FA): 2FA adds an additional layer of security to your website, which can help prevent bots from trying to access login forms.
6. Set traffic limits: Configure traffic limits to prevent unwanted bots from consuming too many resources.
7. Use an injection detection system: Make sure your website has an active injection detection system to prevent bots from trying to inject malicious code.
8. Make backups: Make sure you have recent backups of your website to be able to recover in case of an attack.

What SWPanel tools can help you

SWPanel offers several tools that can help you protect yourself:

• BotLock: Detects and blocks malicious bots, including AI bots that try to do things they shouldn't.
• FireWall: Filters requests before they reach your application, which can help you block malicious bots.
• Website security analysis in Security 360: Detects CMS, plugins, and versions with known issues and marks your website in the panel.
• Security newsletter and alerts in Security 360: Warns you when a flaw affects you.
• Automatic CMS updates: If you installed your website from SWPanel, you can activate automatic CMS updates to prevent exploitation of known vulnerabilities.
• Backups: Make sure you have recent backups of your website to be able to recover in case of an attack.
• Change PHP version: If you're using an unsupported PHP version, switch to a supported version from the hosting service.

Quick summary

• AI bots continue to increase their presence on websites with BotLock active.
• The BotLock system is blocking malicious bots, but it's important to stay alert.
• The trend indicates that AI bots will continue to increase in the coming weeks.
• You can protect yourself with tools like BotLock, a web firewall, and automatic updates.

Sources

The data for this week has been measured by us on the SWPanel platform.