Should I block or allow AI crawlers in robots.txt?

For most businesses, allow AI crawlers. Blocking them prevents your content from appearing in AI responses and training data, essentially making you invisible in the AI search ecosystem. Only block if you have legal concerns (copyrighted content), competitive concerns (proprietary data), or want to negotiate commercial AI licensing deals. The default should be: allow, unless you have specific reasons not to.

Which AI crawler user agents should I configure in robots.txt?

Key AI crawler user agents include: GPTBot (OpenAI/ChatGPT), Google-Extended (Google Gemini training), ClaudeBot (Anthropic), CCBot (Common Crawl, used by many AI companies), PerplexityBot, Applebot-Extended, and anthropic-ai. GEO platforms provide comprehensive lists and check if each is properly configured in your robots.txt file.

Can blocking AI crawlers hurt my SEO?

No, AI crawler rules are separate from traditional SEO crawler rules (Googlebot, Bingbot). You can block GPTBot without affecting Googlebot. However, blocking Google-Extended might signal to Google you don't want AI visibility, potentially impacting your presence in AI Overviews. GEO platforms help you balance these considerations by analyzing which crawlers to allow or block based on your strategy.

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Technical

robots.txt

Text file placed at the root of a website to indicate to indexing robots which pages to explore or avoid.

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What is robots.txt?

The robots.txt file is a web standard that allows site owners to communicate with indexing robots (crawlers). It indicates which parts of the site can or cannot be explored. In the context of GEO, it's crucial to configure robots.txt to allow AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, etc.) to access your content, unless you have legal or strategic reasons to block them.

How Qwairy Makes This Actionable

Qwairy analyzes your robots.txt file to verify AI crawler accessibility. Our crawlability analysis checks if GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, and other AI crawlers can access your content, identifying any blocking rules that might prevent AI visibility.