How AI crawlers work

In one line

AI crawlers (like GPTBot, Google-Extended, PerplexityBot and ClaudeBot) fetch web content so AI models can train on or cite it; you control their access via robots.txt.

What they do

They visit and read your pages much like search crawlers, feeding content into AI systems for training and/or live answering. Each identifies itself with a user-agent (e.g. GPTBot), and each can be allowed or blocked individually in robots.txt.

How to manage them

Decide your stance: allow AI crawlers if you want to be trainable/citable (most brands do), or disallow specific ones to opt out. Add the rules to robots.txt. Remember that blocking them removes you from what those AI tools can read and quote.

Frequently asked

Should I block AI crawlers?

Only if you don't want your content used by AI. To be cited, allow them, visibility in AI answers depends on being readable.

Which AI crawlers exist?

Common ones include GPTBot (OpenAI), Google-Extended (Google AI), ClaudeBot (Anthropic) and PerplexityBot. Manage each in robots.txt.

Put this into practice

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Related

What is robots.txt?
The file that controls which crawlers, including AI bots, can read your site.
How AI picks who to name
What makes an AI assistant choose your site as a source over a competitor's.