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Free AI crawl tool

Is OAI-SearchBot Allowed on Your Site?

OAI-SearchBot is ChatGPT's search crawler — not GPTBot. Paste your URL to see whether robots.txt allows it, blocks it, or has no rule (so a Disallow: / for * wins). If you are blocked, whitelist OAI-SearchBot and scan again.

robots.txt token: OAI-SearchBot Recommended stance: Allow / for public pages IP verification: openai.com/searchbot.json

Website URL to analyze

About this tool

OAI-SearchBot is ChatGPT's search crawler — not GPTBot. Paste your URL to see whether robots.txt allows it, blocks it, or has no rule (so a Disallow: / for * wins). If you are blocked, whitelist OAI-SearchBot and scan again.

Verify OAI-SearchBot can access your site — OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT search indexing and real-time citations in conversational answers.

What we check

In your free report

  • OAI-SearchBot User-agent rules in robots.txt
  • Homepage path allow/disallow status for OAI-SearchBot
  • Conflicts with blanket User-agent: * Disallow rules
robots.txt token OAI-SearchBot
Recommended stance Allow / for public pages
IP verification openai.com/searchbot.json
Best practices

Recommendations from official docs

Whitelist OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt

Add User-agent: OAI-SearchBot followed by Allow: / for public pages. That dedicated group overrides a User-agent: * Disallow: / rule. Copy the snippet from our how-to-whitelist guide if you do not want to edit robots.txt by hand.

Required for ChatGPT search citations

OpenAI states sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers. Allow it on pages you want surfaced and linked.

Independent from GPTBot

You can allow OAI-SearchBot for search visibility while blocking GPTBot for training — each setting is documented as independent by OpenAI.

Track referral traffic

ChatGPT search adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to outbound links. Monitor this in Google Analytics to measure AI-driven visits.

Ensure CDN does not block the bot

WAF bot management may block OAI-SearchBot despite robots.txt Allow. Whitelist openai.com/searchbot.json IP ranges if needed.

How to fix

Step-by-step action plan

  1. 1 Add User-agent: OAI-SearchBot with Allow: / for public content (this whitelists ChatGPT search).
  2. 2 If User-agent: * has Disallow: /, keep the dedicated OAI-SearchBot group — do not rely on *.
  3. 3 Allow openai.com/searchbot.json IPs in Cloudflare or your WAF if you still get 403s.
  4. 4 Publish clear titles, descriptions, and structured data to improve snippet quality.
  5. 5 Re-check this tool after 24 hours and watch chatgpt.com referrals in analytics.
Official references

Learn more from the source

Related guides

Learn how to improve these signals

How to whitelist OAI-SearchBot Copy-paste robots.txt plus Cloudflare IP allowlist → OpenAI crawler guide GPTBot vs OAI-SearchBot and when to allow each →
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Questions about this tool

How do I whitelist OAI-SearchBot?

Add User-agent: OAI-SearchBot and Allow: / in robots.txt for public pages. If the checker still shows a block, allow OpenAI's searchbot.json IP ranges in Cloudflare or your WAF.

What is OAI-SearchBot?

OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT search. It fetches public pages so ChatGPT can cite them. It is a different robots.txt token from GPTBot.

Is OAI-SearchBot the same as GPTBot?

No. They are separate tokens in robots.txt and can be controlled independently. Allow OAI-SearchBot if you want ChatGPT search citations.

Why is OAI-SearchBot blocked if I never mentioned it?

A User-agent: * Disallow: / rule applies to OAI-SearchBot until you add a dedicated group. This checker flags that fallback.