Troubleshooting & Common Issues

High Request Volume

If you notice unexpectedly high request volume from Assaybot:

1. Verify Authenticity: First, confirm the requests are genuinely from Assaybot by checking the user-agent string and verifying the source IP against Index Exchange's authorized IP range (192.139.80.0/24). Requests from outside this range using the Assaybot user-agent are spoofed

2. Check Deduplication: Assaybot should not request the same URL more than once within a 30-day period. If you are seeing repeated requests to the same URL, the traffic may not be from Assaybot

3. Use robots.txt: You can set a Crawl-delay directive in your robots.txt file to control how frequently Assaybot makes requests to your site

4. Contact Support: If the issue persists after verification, reach out to your account representative with sample request logs (timestamps, URLs, source IPs) and Index Exchange will investigate

WAF and CDN Configuration

If Assaybot is being blocked by your Web Application Firewall (WAF) or CDN:

• Allowlist by IP: Add Index Exchange's authorized IP range (192.139.80.0/24) to your WAF/CDN allowlist

• Allowlist by User-Agent: Add Assaybot to your bot allowlist. Note that IP verification is more secure than user-agent matching alone

• Rate Limiting: If your CDN applies rate limits, ensure they are not so restrictive that legitimate crawl traffic is blocked. Assaybot limits its own per-domain concurrency and respects 429 responses with automatic backoff

• Bot Management: If you use a bot management solution (e.g., Cloudflare Bot Management, Akamai Bot Manager), you may need to add Assaybot to your verified bot list or create an exception rule

Access Errors

If Assaybot encounters repeated access errors on your site (403, 401, etc.):

• Authentication Walls: Assaybot can only access publicly available pages. Ensure the pages that appear in ad traffic are accessible without authentication

• Geo-Restrictions: If your site restricts access by geography, ensure that Index Exchange's IP range is permitted

• IP Allowlisting: Use the authorized CIDR range documented in the User Agent and Network section

Content Analysis Issues

If you believe Assaybot is incorrectly flagging content:

1. Review Flagged Content: Your account representative can provide specific examples of content that was flagged and the reason for the classification

2. Understand Criteria: Brand safety assessment covers categories including explicit sexual content, hate speech, violence, illegal activity, and other material that may affect advertiser confidence. Classifications follow IAB brand safety guidelines

3. Request Review: Contact your account representative to request a manual review of specific flagged URLs

4. Appeal Process: Work with the Exchange Quality team for remediation guidance. Incorrectly flagged content can be reviewed and reclassified