Search and AI
OAI-SearchBot
OAI-SearchBot is the crawler OpenAI uses to find websites for the search features in ChatGPT.
It is different from GPTBot, which OpenAI uses to collect content that may train its AI models. OpenAI says sites that block OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though they can still appear as plain links.
If you want ChatGPT to find and cite your pages, allow OAI-SearchBot. You can still block GPTBot if you do not want your content used for training. Open your robots.txt today and look for lines that block AI crawlers. This is part of generative engine optimization, and it helps you get mentioned by ChatGPT.
Go deeper
- How to get your brand mentioned by ChatGPTGet your brand mentioned by ChatGPT: find the exact pages it reads when your buyers ask for a tool, agency or supplier, get your name onto them every day with pages, answers, messages and short videos, and count how often you are named every Sunday.
- How to track AI traffic and ChatGPT mentionsTrack AI traffic and ChatGPT mentions on a small site: add one AI row to Google Analytics, Bing's free AI citation report and an AI answer to your "where did you hear about us" question today, ask your buyers' 20 questions in ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google AI Mode every day, and count visits, signups and mentions every Sunday.
What links here
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Sources
- Overview of OpenAI crawlers, OpenAI, checked 24 September 2026
Last checked 24 September 2026.