OAI-SearchBot checker
Find what stops ChatGPT reading your site — and get the exact fixes, plus your full AI readiness report.
ChatGPT
Claude
Gemini
PerplexityInstant preview · Full report free by email
Includes all AI platforms and all five readiness categories.
canairead.me
OAI-SearchBot checker · Full AI readiness report included
Example AI readiness report
canairead.me · 92/100
OpenAI access has separate controls
OAI-SearchBot supports ChatGPT search discovery. GPTBot relates to potential model-training crawls. Allowing either creates access for its purpose; it does not guarantee selection, ranking or citation.
Use the full AI crawler matrix when wildcard groups or multiple agents interact.
Verification workflow
- 1. Scan and record the matching group and directive.
- 2. Decide separately whether you want search and training access.
- 3. Edit the real production robots.txt without removing private-path rules.
- 4. Publish, bypass any stale CDN cache, and rescan.
- 5. Test important URLs and monitor actual ChatGPT referrals separately.
What we check
OAI-SearchBot supports discovery for ChatGPT search results and citations. It is separate from GPTBot, which controls potential model-training crawls. This checker reports the homepage decision and the robots.txt evidence behind it.
- OAI-SearchBot access to the homepage
- The selected robots.txt group and matching directive
- Whether GPTBot has a different training-access decision
- Homepage rendering and search foundations that robots.txt alone cannot prove
Passing technical checks is only the starting point. Read why your site might not show up in ChatGPT to work through access, rendering and content issues before expecting citations.
See exactly what is tested and what a score cannot prove in the scan methodology and limitations.
Crawlers involved
OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI
Powers live web results and citations shown inside ChatGPT search.
Explore the related checker →GPTBot
OpenAI
Crawls public content that may be used to train future OpenAI models.
Explore the related checker →Common problems
OAI-SearchBot blocked while GPTBot is allowed
This permits potential training crawls but blocks the crawler used for ChatGPT search discovery—the opposite of what many publishers intend.
A wildcard group wins unexpectedly
Without a specific OAI-SearchBot group, a broader User-agent: * rule may determine access.
How to fix them
Set the search decision explicitly
Add a dedicated OAI-SearchBot group after reviewing intentional private-path exclusions.
Re-scan the published site
Confirm the matching directive changes after the robots.txt update reaches production.
Frequently asked
Is OAI-SearchBot the same as GPTBot?
No. OAI-SearchBot supports ChatGPT search discovery and citations; GPTBot relates to potential model-training crawls.
Does allowing OAI-SearchBot guarantee a citation?
No. It makes crawling possible, but selection depends on relevance and other systems outside this scan.
Primary documentation
Crawler descriptions were reviewed 2026-09-12. Product behavior can change; verify decisions against the current source.