Check Whether AI Search Crawlers Can Access Your Website
AI-powered search systems depend on web crawlers and crawler controls to discover and access public website content.
The Electric Blue SEO AI Search Access Checker reviews your website’s publicly available robots.txt and llms.txt files and checks whether major AI-related crawlers appear to have access at the site root.
Use the free checker to see how your site currently handles AI search and crawler access.
Run the AI Search Access Checker
What Does the AI Search Access Checker Test?
The checker looks at several technical signals that can affect how AI systems access your website.
It checks for:
- Public
robots.txt - Public
llms.txt - OpenAI Search access
- Claude Search access
- Perplexity crawler access
- Google Search / AI feature access
- GPTBot controls
- ClaudeBot controls
- Google-Extended controls
Results are returned immediately and are not stored by the tool.
AI Search Crawlers vs. AI Crawler Controls
Not all AI-related crawlers serve the same purpose.
The checker separates them into two groups.
AI Search & Retrieval Crawlers
These crawlers are associated with search, retrieval, indexing, or AI-powered search experiences.
The checker currently evaluates:
- OAI-SearchBot
- Claude-SearchBot
- PerplexityBot
- Googlebot
If these crawlers are blocked at the root level, your website may be restricting access that could otherwise support search and AI discovery.
AI Crawler Controls
The checker also reviews crawler directives associated with model training, grounding, and related AI uses.
These include:
- GPTBot
- ClaudeBot
- Google-Extended
A website can allow AI search access while still restricting some of these crawlers.
For example, a site may allow OAI-SearchBot while blocking GPTBot.
The checker reports those differences separately so you can see exactly how your robots.txt rules are configured.
What Does “No Specific Rule” Mean?
If the checker reports No Specific Rule, that does not mean the crawler is blocked.
It means the website’s robots.txt file does not contain a root-level rule specifically affecting that crawler.
In many cases, this means the crawler is not restricted by robots.txt at the site root.
The checker distinguishes between:
- Allowed — an applicable rule explicitly allows access
- Blocked — an applicable rule blocks access
- No Specific Rule — no applicable root-level restriction was detected
What Is llms.txt?
llms.txt is an emerging website file intended to provide structured information that may help AI systems better understand important website content.
It is currently optional.
A missing llms.txt file does not mean your website cannot appear in AI search or be cited by AI systems.
The checker reports whether the file exists as an informational signal only.
Why Check AI Crawler Access?
AI visibility depends on more than crawler access, but crawlability is an important technical foundation.
A website may have strong content and SEO signals but still limit access through robots.txt rules or other crawler controls.
Running a quick access check can help you identify whether major AI-related crawlers appear to be:
- Allowed
- Blocked
- Unaddressed by specific crawler rules
This can be especially useful when reviewing AI visibility, technical SEO, or website migration settings.
Important Scope Note
The AI Search Access Checker evaluates publicly available root-level robots.txt rules.
It does not test every possible factor that can affect crawler access.
Additional restrictions may come from:
- CDN or firewall settings
- Bot protection services
- Authentication requirements
- Rate limiting
- JavaScript rendering
- Path-specific robots.txt rules
- Server-level blocking
- Security plugins
The tool should be used as a technical diagnostic, not as a guarantee that any crawler will visit, index, cite, or use your website.
Want a Deeper AI Visibility Review?
Crawler access is only one part of AI search visibility.
Electric Blue SEO reports and audits evaluate broader signals including:
- AI visibility
- SEO foundations
- Citation readiness
- Content structure
- Entity clarity
- Structured data
- Internal linking
- Technical SEO signals
- Implementation priorities
Use the free checker for a quick access review, then run the full AI Visibility Scanner or purchase a more detailed report for deeper analysis.
AI Search Access Checker FAQs
Does blocking GPTBot block ChatGPT Search?
Not necessarily.
OpenAI uses different crawler controls for different purposes. GPTBot and OAI-SearchBot are treated separately, which is why this checker reports them independently.
Does my site need an llms.txt file?
No.
The file is optional and should be treated as an informational signal rather than a ranking requirement.
Does “Open” guarantee AI citations?
No.
An open robots.txt configuration means the checker did not detect a root-level block for the relevant crawlers. It does not guarantee crawling, indexing, rankings, citations, or AI recommendations.
Can AI search crawlers be allowed while training crawlers are blocked?
Yes.
Some websites allow AI search or retrieval crawlers while blocking crawlers associated with model training or other AI uses.
Does the checker save my website?
No.
The checker performs the test in real time and does not store scan history.
Check Your Website’s AI Access
See whether major AI search and crawler agents appear to have access to your website.
Run the Free AI Search Access Checker
Explore Electric Blue SEO AI Visibility Scanners
Test how visible your website is for AI search, GEO, SEO foundations, schema, crawlability, citations and industry-specific AI visibility signals.