--- title: "What is OAI-SearchBot?" description: "What OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI) does with your content, whether to block it, and the exact robots.txt lines — in plain language." canonical: https://see-geo.com/bots/oai-searchbot language: en published: 2026-09-08 updated: 2026-09-08 publisher: SeeGeo alternates: fr: https://see-geo.com/fr/bots/oai-searchbot de: https://see-geo.com/de/bots/oai-searchbot --- # What is OAI-SearchBot? OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's AI search index crawler. Builds the index behind ChatGPT search — this is the bot that decides if ChatGPT can cite you. ## What does OAI-SearchBot do with your content? Builds the index behind ChatGPT search — this is the bot that decides if ChatGPT can cite you. Like most AI crawlers, OAI-SearchBot reads your pages as plain HTML — it does not run JavaScript — so content that only appears after scripts execute is invisible to it. ## Should you block OAI-SearchBot? Blocking OAI-SearchBot makes your business invisible to OpenAI's AI when customers ask it for recommendations. If you want to be found, allow it; block it only if you have a specific reason to keep OpenAI's AI away from your content. ## How do you allow or block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt? Add one of these snippets to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. The first explicitly allows OAI-SearchBot everywhere; the second blocks it completely. ``` # Allow OAI-SearchBot User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: / # Block OAI-SearchBot User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: / ``` ## Is robots.txt enough? Not always. CDNs and firewalls (Cloudflare in particular) can block crawlers at the network level regardless of what robots.txt says — Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default for many accounts. If you want OAI-SearchBot to reach your site, check your CDN's bot settings too. SeeGeo's free audit checks both. ## How do I check whether OAI-SearchBot can read my site right now? Two checks, both needed: read your robots.txt for a group naming OAI-SearchBot (or the * group it falls back to), then request your homepage with OAI-SearchBot's user agent and confirm you get a 200 with your real HTML rather than a 403 or a challenge page. SeeGeo's free crawler check runs both in a few seconds. [Run the free AI crawler check](https://see-geo.com/ai-crawler-check) ## How does OAI-SearchBot compare to similar crawlers? OAI-SearchBot is one of 16 crawlers the SeeGeo audit checks individually. The closest comparisons: | Crawler | Operator | Role | Runs JavaScript? | |---|---|---|---| | OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | AI search index crawler | No | | GPTBot | OpenAI | AI training crawler | No | | ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | on-demand AI fetcher | No | | PerplexityBot | Perplexity | AI search index crawler | No | | Amazonbot | Amazon | AI search index crawler | No | [All 16 crawlers, compared](https://see-geo.com/bots) · [What is an AI crawler?](https://see-geo.com/glossary/ai-crawler) ## Why does crawler access matter? The numbers Crawler access is where AI visibility starts or ends: a blocked crawler can't read you, and an AI that can't read you can't recommend you. - Visitors arriving from AI assistants convert at roughly 4.4x the rate of traditional organic search on average (Semrush, cross-industry, 2026). - AI-assistant referrals are still only about 1% of total web traffic — small, but the fastest-growing acquisition channel measured (multiple 2026 studies). - Adobe Digital Insights (Q1 2026) measured AI-assistant visitors converting 42% better than non-AI traffic — a full reversal from the year before. - Cloudflare blocks AI crawlers by default for many accounts, so sites are often invisible to AI without anyone having decided to be. - Content edits alone — statistics, citations, quotable structure — can raise AI visibility on the order of 30–40% (Princeton GEO study, KDD 2024). ## Frequently asked questions ### What is OAI-SearchBot? OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's AI search index crawler. Builds the index behind ChatGPT search — this is the bot that decides if ChatGPT can cite you. ### Should I block OAI-SearchBot? Blocking OAI-SearchBot makes your business invisible to OpenAI's AI when customers ask it for recommendations. If you want to be found, allow it; block it only if you have a specific reason to keep OpenAI's AI away from your content.. ### Does OAI-SearchBot run JavaScript? No. OAI-SearchBot, like most AI crawlers, reads raw HTML without executing JavaScript. If your content only renders client-side, it is effectively invisible to it. ### Can OAI-SearchBot read my website? Only if two things are true: your robots.txt does not disallow OAI-SearchBot, and your server or CDN actually serves the page when OAI-SearchBot asks. Firewalls can block it regardless of robots.txt, so the reliable way to know is to fetch your homepage as OAI-SearchBot — the free check on see-geo.com/ai-crawler-check does exactly that. ## Related pages - [What is GPTBot?](https://see-geo.com/bots/gptbot) - [What is ChatGPT-User?](https://see-geo.com/bots/chatgpt-user) - [What is PerplexityBot?](https://see-geo.com/bots/perplexitybot)