Can ChatGPT see your website?
Check whether ChatGPT search is allowed to read your site, and what to change if it isn't.
Free, no sign-up. We only read your homepage, robots.txt and llms.txt.
How ChatGPT finds websites
When ChatGPT searches the web for an answer, the pages it can show come from OpenAI's search crawler, OAI-SearchBot. OpenAI says sites that opt out of OAI-SearchBot won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers, apart from plain navigational links. So it's the crawler that matters most here. OAI-SearchBot, explained has its user agent, IP list and robots.txt rules.
OpenAI runs four crawlers in all, and each one has its own robots.txt setting:
| Crawler | What it does | Follows robots.txt | If you block it |
|---|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Finds pages for ChatGPT search | Yes | You drop out of ChatGPT search answers |
| ChatGPT-User | Opens a page when someone asks ChatGPT about it, or a custom GPT needs it | "May not apply", says OpenAI | Doesn't affect search; OpenAI points you to OAI-SearchBot for that |
| GPTBot | Collects pages that may be used to train OpenAI's models | Yes | You're left out of training, not out of search |
| OAI-AdsBot | Checks landing pages submitted as ads in ChatGPT | Only visits ad pages | Only matters if you advertise in ChatGPT |
If you allow both OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot, OpenAI may use one crawl for both jobs, so you may see fewer visits than you'd expect.
ChatGPT also gets results from third-party search providers, Bing among them. OpenAI says that if it learns a blocked page's address that way and the page looks relevant, it may still show the link and title. To keep a page out entirely, use a noindex tag, and leave OAI-SearchBot allowed so it can read the tag.
What we saw in 209 ChatGPT answers
In September 2026 we asked ChatGPT 70 questions customers ask about local services, like "best hair salon in Tampa, FL", in six US cities, signed out, in real browsers. Some things you won't find in OpenAI's docs:
- Local answers come with a map. 203 of the 209 answers showed a map of places, about 12 businesses each, with ratings, hours and photos. The map draws on business listings, not on crawling your site.
- Being on the map isn't the same as being cited. The answers linked to only about 2.6 sites each. Of 2,351 businesses on those maps with a website, 123 (5%) had their own site among the answer's links.
- Every link was tagged. All 638 links carried
utm_source=chatgpt.com, which is how you can count ChatGPT visits in your analytics.
So for a local business, being readable lets ChatGPT cite your pages, but it isn't how you get on the map. Your listings and reviews elsewhere matter as much. How AI assistants choose their sources covers which sites the answers did cite.
What this checks
- Whether your robots.txt lets OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User and GPTBot read your homepage, and which line decides it.
- Whether your server lets in a request that uses OAI-SearchBot's name. Some firewalls and CDNs block AI crawlers by default. The real crawler comes from OpenAI's published addresses, so a block here is a sign to check your settings, not proof.
- Whether your homepage has its text in the HTML. In Vercel's December 2024 measurements, none of OpenAI's crawlers ran JavaScript, so text that only appears after scripts run may be invisible to them.
If ChatGPT is blocked
Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt. If you want to stay out of training, block GPTBot separately:
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
The robots.txt generator writes this for you. OpenAI says robots.txt changes take about 24 hours to reach ChatGPT search.
If robots.txt is fine but the check above was turned away, look at your firewall or CDN. Cloudflare, for one, blocked AI crawlers by default on new domains from July 2025. Since September 15, 2026, new domains get presets that allow search crawlers, but a domain set up before then may still block them. Check the AI crawler controls in your domain's Security Settings. Allow the addresses OpenAI publishes rather than the name alone, since anyone can send a request that says it's OAI-SearchBot:
- OAI-SearchBot:
openai.com/searchbot.json - ChatGPT-User:
openai.com/chatgpt-user.json - GPTBot:
openai.com/gptbot.json
How to tell whether ChatGPT is reading you
Your server logs. OAI-SearchBot's requests end in compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.4; +https://openai.com/searchbot. When it fetches robots.txt, OpenAI adds robots.txt; to that, so you can tell those requests apart. Check that the address is in searchbot.json before trusting it.
Your analytics. Visits from ChatGPT's links arrive with utm_source=chatgpt.com. Filter on it in Google Analytics or similar.
ChatGPT itself. Ask it a question your page answers, with search on, and look at the sources under the answer. Ask a few times: answers change from one ask to the next.
Common questions
There's no submission form. OpenAI says any public site can appear if OAI-SearchBot isn't blocked. Since ChatGPT also uses Bing among its search providers, adding your site to Bing Webmaster Tools does no harm.
OpenAI treats the two as separate settings: blocking GPTBot keeps future pages out of training and doesn't remove you from ChatGPT search.
OpenAI doesn't mention one in its guidance for publishers. Our llms.txt guide covers what it is and who reads it.
Readable isn't the same as recommended
Being open to OAI-SearchBot is necessary, not a guarantee. Whether ChatGPT names you depends on what it finds about you across the web. How to get ChatGPT to recommend your business covers that, and the questions customers ask AI shows you what to try asking it yourself.
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