AI Crawlers Explained: GPTBot, CCBot, and Robots.txt Configuration

GPTBot is OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT. User agent: GPTBot. CCBot is used by Common Crawl, which provides data for many AI models. User agent: CCBot. Claude-Web is Anthropic's crawler for Claude. User agent: Claude-Web. Google-Extended is used for Google AI models like Gemini and AI Overviews. User agent: Google-Extended. Perplexity-Bot crawls for Perplexity AI. User agent: Perplexity-Bot. Each crawler respects robots.txt directives.

If you want AI engines to cite your content, you must allow AI crawlers. Blocking them means your content won't appear in AI-generated answers. However, allowing crawlers means your content may be used to train AI models. The tradeoff: more visibility versus potential content use. For most businesses, the citation benefit outweighs training concerns. You can allow crawling while blocking specific content types.

To allow all AI crawlers: User-agent: GPTBot, Allow: /. User-agent: CCBot, Allow: /. User-agent: Claude-Web, Allow: /. User-agent: Google-Extended, Allow: /. User-agent: Perplexity-Bot, Allow: /. To block specific paths: User-agent: GPTBot, Allow: /blog/, Disallow: /admin/, /private/. This allows AI to index your public content while blocking sensitive areas.

Use Google's robots.txt tester in Search Console. Check each AI crawler's access by simulating their user agents. Verify that important content is accessible. Test that sensitive areas remain blocked. Remember: robots.txt is a public file. Anyone can see your rules. Don't use it to hide truly sensitive information—use authentication instead.

GPTBot respects delays between requests. It doesn't aggressively crawl. CCBot crawls broadly and frequently. Google-Extended follows standard Googlebot behavior. Claude-Web is relatively new, so patterns are still emerging. Perplexity-Bot prioritizes fresh content. Understanding these patterns helps you anticipate crawl behavior and optimize timing for new content publication.

Check your server logs for AI crawler user agents. Look for GPTBot, CCBot, Claude-Web, Google-Extended, and Perplexity-Bot requests. Track which pages they crawl and how frequently. This tells you if AI engines are discovering your content. If you don't see AI crawler activity, check for robots.txt blocks or crawl errors in Search Console.

New AI crawlers will emerge. Consider using a blanket allow policy with specific disallows for sensitive content. This approach accommodates new crawlers without manual updates. Document your robots.txt decisions and the rationale. Review quarterly as the AI landscape evolves. The balance between visibility and control will shift as AI search grows.