What is NovaAct?

Usually not. NovaAct browses on behalf of a person trying to read, compare, or buy something on your site. Blocking it may prevent that person from completing the task and send them elsewhere. It does not affect traditional search rankings. For context, 2% of the top websites we track currently have robots.txt rules for NovaAct.

No. NovaAct is not expected to follow robots.txt directives, so a disallow rule only communicates your preference. Enforce the block with firewall or server rules, then use Agent Analytics to verify that its requests stop.

Possibly, if a user grants access. NovaAct operates a real browser session, so when someone signs in through it, the agent can see anything available to that account. Without credentials, it can reach only what an anonymous visitor can.

A user gave NovaAct a task that your site may help complete, such as researching a product, comparing options, or filling out a form. It likely reached your site through links or search results, much like a person would.

Agent Analytics tracks NovaAct visits in real time alongside every other known AI agent, crawler, and scraper. You can also check your server logs for requests whose user-agent string contains "NovaAct". Look for browser-like sessions that move through pages faster or more methodically than a typical person. Because NovaAct does not publish a verification method, any client can claim its identity and a log match is only a clue.