Free AI visibility report

Get my report
RANKBULL

Is my site blocked from ChatGPT?

Check whether ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google's AI crawlers can reach your site, including blocks your robots.txt, firewall or CDN adds without telling you.

  • Free, no signup
  • Results in seconds
  • Works for Shopify stores
Try:

What we check

  • robots.txt rules
  • Firewall and CDN blocks
  • noindex tags
  • llms.txt and sitemap

We read your robots.txt and visit your homepage as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, Google and other AI crawlers. Nothing is stored and there's no signup.

AI can't recommend a site it can't read

When someone asks ChatGPT for the best local bakery or a good pair of running shoes, the answer is built from pages its crawlers were allowed to read. If your robots.txt, firewall or CDN turns those crawlers away, you are left out of the answer. Nobody tells you it happened, and your Google rankings can look perfectly healthy while it does.

Blocks happen without you choosing them
A theme update, an SEO plugin, a security app or a one-click CDN setting can start blocking AI crawlers overnight. Many owners find out months later, after they've stopped showing up in ChatGPT and Perplexity answers.
robots.txt is only half the story
A site can allow every AI crawler in robots.txt and still block them at the firewall with a 403 error or a "checking your browser" page. That's why we test both: the rules each crawler reads, and what happens when it actually visits.
Search crawlers and training crawlers are different
OAI-SearchBot puts you in ChatGPT search. GPTBot collects training data. You can block training and still be recommended, but blocking the search crawler removes you from the answers. The checker labels each crawler so you know which is which.
Shopify stores get a different fix
Shopify stores can't upload a robots.txt file. They edit the robots.txt.liquid theme template instead. When we detect Shopify, every fix is written for that setup.

How to use the AI Crawler Checker

  1. Enter your domain

    Type your address the way customers do, like yourstore.com. A full URL works too. We check the homepage and the robots.txt at the root of the site.

  2. Read the ChatGPT answer first

    The headline tells you whether ChatGPT can read your site. Below it, 17 AI crawlers are grouped into AI search, user-triggered and AI training, each with its robots.txt decision and what happened when we visited as that crawler.

  3. Apply the fix we give you

    Blocked by robots.txt? We show the exact line and the lines to add. Blocked by a firewall? We tell you where to look, including Cloudflare and Shopify. Then check noindex, llms.txt and your sitemap in the list below.

  4. Run it again after changes

    Re-check after you edit robots.txt, change CDN or security settings, install an SEO or security app, or switch themes. Those are the moments blocks usually appear.

AI crawler reference: who they are and what blocking them means

Every crawler this checker tests, with the robots.txt token to use, the product it feeds and what you give up by blocking it. AI search and user-triggered crawlers decide whether you can be recommended. Training crawlers only affect whether your pages are used to train future models.

robots.txt tokenCompanyTypeWhat it powersIf you block it
OAI-SearchBotOpenAIAI searchChatGPT search resultsYou can't be found or cited in ChatGPT search results.
ChatGPT-UserOpenAIUser-triggeredPages ChatGPT opens for a userOpenAI's assistant can't open your pages when someone asks it to.
GPTBotOpenAIAI trainingTraining data for OpenAI modelsYour pages are left out of future OpenAI model training. AI search is not affected.
Claude-SearchBotAnthropicAI searchClaude search resultsYou can't be found or cited in Claude search results.
Claude-UserAnthropicUser-triggeredPages Claude opens for a userAnthropic's assistant can't open your pages when someone asks it to.
ClaudeBotAnthropicAI trainingTraining data for Claude modelsYour pages are left out of future Anthropic model training. AI search is not affected.
PerplexityBotPerplexityAI searchPerplexity answersYou can't be found or cited in Perplexity answers.
Perplexity-UserPerplexityUser-triggeredPages Perplexity opens for a userPerplexity's assistant can't open your pages when someone asks it to.
GooglebotGoogleAI searchGoogle Search, AI Overviews and AI ModeYou drop out of Google Search, including AI Overviews and AI Mode.
Google-ExtendedGoogleAI trainingGemini training and grounding (robots.txt token only)Google won't use your pages to train Gemini or ground its answers. Google Search and AI Overviews are not affected.
BingbotMicrosoftAI searchBing, Microsoft Copilot and partner AI searchYou drop out of Bing and the AI answers built on it, such as Microsoft Copilot.
ApplebotAppleAI searchSiri, Spotlight and Apple Intelligence answersYou can't be found or cited in Siri, Spotlight and Apple Intelligence answers.
Applebot-ExtendedAppleAI trainingApple model training (robots.txt token only)Apple won't use your pages to train its AI models. Siri and Spotlight can still show you.
DuckAssistBotDuckDuckGoAI searchDuckDuckGo AI-assisted answersYou can't be found or cited in DuckDuckGo AI-assisted answers.
MistralAI-UserMistralUser-triggeredPages Le Chat opens for a userMistral's assistant can't open your pages when someone asks it to.
Meta-ExternalAgentMetaAI trainingTraining data for Meta AI modelsYour pages are left out of future Meta model training. AI search is not affected.
AmazonbotAmazonAI trainingAlexa answers and Amazon AI modelsAmazon may not use your pages for Alexa answers or to train its models.
CCBotCommon CrawlAI trainingOpen dataset used to train many AI modelsYour pages are left out of Common Crawl, an open dataset many AI models are trained on.
BytespiderByteDanceAI trainingTraining data for ByteDance modelsYour pages are left out of future ByteDance model training. AI search is not affected.

Questions about the AI Crawler Checker

Enter your domain above: the checker reads your robots.txt for OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User and GPTBot, then visits your homepage as each of them to catch firewall and CDN blocks. If OAI-SearchBot is blocked by either one, ChatGPT search can't show your pages. To check by hand, open yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for a Disallow: / rule under User-agent: OAI-SearchBot, User-agent: GPTBot or User-agent: *. A firewall block won't show up there, which is why the live test matters.

Run your domain through this checker and look at the GPTBot row under AI training. It shows whether robots.txt allows GPTBot, which line decides it, and whether your site answered normally when we visited with GPTBot's user agent. Remember that GPTBot only collects training data. The crawler that matters for being found in ChatGPT is OAI-SearchBot, which has its own row.

No. OpenAI uses separate crawlers: GPTBot for model training and OAI-SearchBot for ChatGPT search. OpenAI documents them as independent, so a site can block GPTBot and still appear in ChatGPT search results, as long as OAI-SearchBot is allowed. If you want to opt out of training but still be recommended, block GPTBot and allow OAI-SearchBot and ChatGPT-User. Our robots.txt generator has a preset that does exactly that.

GPTBot collects public pages that may be used to train OpenAI's models. OAI-SearchBot finds and indexes pages so ChatGPT can show and link to them in search answers. A third agent, ChatGPT-User, fetches a page when a person asks ChatGPT to open or read it. Each one has its own robots.txt token, so you can allow or block them separately.

Not on every site, but it can, and it's increasingly common. In 2025 Cloudflare started asking new domains whether to allow AI crawlers and defaulting to blocking them, and any Cloudflare site can switch on AI-crawler blocking in its bot settings. It can also add AI rules to your robots.txt for you. Depending on those settings, crawlers that power AI search answers may be blocked along with training crawlers. Run this check to see what your setup actually does. Cloudflare recognises verified crawlers by IP address, so treat our firewall result as a strong signal and confirm it in Cloudflare's own analytics.

Because the block is happening before robots.txt matters. When we visited your homepage as an AI crawler, your site returned an error such as 403 or a bot challenge page, while a normal visit worked. That points to a firewall, CDN, hosting security setting or security plugin. The fix is in that tool's settings, not in robots.txt. The result shows which crawlers were turned away and where to look.

It's your call, and it doesn't affect AI search. Blocking GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, CCBot and similar crawlers keeps your pages out of future training data. Your visibility in ChatGPT search, Perplexity, Google AI Overviews and Copilot depends on the search crawlers, which you should keep allowed. Most small businesses and stores want as much exposure as possible and allow everything. Publishers who license their content often block training.

No, it's the first requirement, not the finish line. Once crawlers can read your site, AI engines still need clear pages that answer the questions your customers ask, accurate business details and mentions on other sites they trust. The free AI visibility report below shows whether ChatGPT and Gemini actually recommend you for those questions, and who they recommend instead.

Being crawlable is step one. Being recommended is the goal.

RankBull asks ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity the questions your customers ask, shows who they recommend instead of you, then writes and publishes the pages that change the answer.

See plans from $29/moGet the Shopify app

Running Shopify? The RankBull app checks every product page and fixes what AI can't read, right inside your admin.

Free AI visibility report for your site

Free · no card · verbatim engine answers · graded fixes

More free tools