AI Crawler Reference Guide

Last updated: February 2026 | Reference guide for AI search optimization

Table of Contents

What Are AI Crawlers?

AI crawlers are automated bots used by AI companies to collect web content for training language models, powering search features, and generating real-time answers. Unlike traditional search engine crawlers (like Googlebot), AI crawlers are specifically designed to gather content that will be used to train or inform AI systems.

Understanding which AI crawlers visit your site and how to optimize for them is crucial for AI Search Optimization (GEO)—ensuring your content appears in AI assistant recommendations.

Why it matters: When users ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Perplexity about your product category, these AI systems rely on content they've crawled from your website. If crawlers can't access your content, or if your content isn't optimized for AI understanding, you'll be invisible to AI-powered search.

Major AI Crawlers

GPTBot Active

Owner: OpenAI

User-Agent: GPTBot

Purpose: Crawls web content for training future GPT models and powering ChatGPT's web browsing feature.

How to identify: Look for User-Agent: GPTBot in your server logs. IP ranges are published by OpenAI.

robots.txt rule: User-agent: GPTBot

CCBot Active

Owner: Anthropic (Claude)

User-Agent: CCBot or anthropic-ai

Purpose: Collects content for training Claude models and powering Claude's web search capabilities.

How to identify: User-Agent strings include "CCBot" or "anthropic-ai". Anthropic publishes IP ranges.

robots.txt rule: User-agent: CCBot

PerplexityBot Active

Owner: Perplexity AI

User-Agent: PerplexityBot

Purpose: Powers Perplexity's real-time search and answer generation. Crawls content to provide up-to-date answers.

How to identify: User-Agent contains "PerplexityBot". Perplexity crawls more frequently than training-focused bots.

robots.txt rule: User-agent: PerplexityBot

Google-Extended Active

Owner: Google

User-Agent: Google-Extended

Purpose: Used for training Google's AI models (Gemini) and powering AI-powered search features.

How to identify: User-Agent is "Google-Extended". Separate from Googlebot (traditional search).

robots.txt rule: User-agent: Google-Extended

Applebot-Extended Beta

Owner: Apple

User-Agent: Applebot-Extended

Purpose: Used for training Apple's AI models (Siri, Apple Intelligence). Separate from standard Applebot.

How to identify: User-Agent contains "Applebot-Extended".

robots.txt rule: User-agent: Applebot-Extended

FacebookBot Active

Owner: Meta (Facebook)

User-Agent: facebookexternalhit or Facebot

Purpose: Crawls content for Facebook's AI features, link previews, and AI-powered search.

How to identify: User-Agent contains "facebookexternalhit" or "Facebot".

robots.txt rule: User-agent: facebookexternalhit

Bingbot Active

Owner: Microsoft

User-Agent: bingbot

Purpose: Powers Bing Chat (Copilot) and Microsoft's AI search features. Also used for traditional Bing search.

How to identify: User-Agent is "bingbot". Microsoft publishes IP ranges.

robots.txt rule: User-agent: bingbot

Other Notable Crawlers

Crawler Name Owner User-Agent Status
Amazonbot Amazon Amazonbot Active
Bytespider ByteDance (TikTok) Bytespider Active
Diffbot Diffbot Diffbot Active
SemrushBot Semrush SemrushBot Active

How to Verify Crawler Access

1. Check Server Logs

Review your web server access logs for crawler User-Agent strings. Common locations:

  • Apache: /var/log/apache2/access.log or /var/log/httpd/access_log
  • Nginx: /var/log/nginx/access.log
  • Cloud providers: Check your hosting dashboard (AWS CloudWatch, Google Cloud Logging, etc.)

Search for crawler names:

grep -i "GPTBot\|CCBot\|PerplexityBot" /var/log/nginx/access.log

2. Verify IP Ranges

Major AI companies publish official IP ranges for their crawlers. Always verify crawler identity by checking IP addresses against official lists:

Security note: Always verify crawler identity by checking both User-Agent and IP address. Malicious bots can spoof User-Agent strings, but they can't use official IP ranges.

3. Use Analytics Tools

Tools like GenieOptimize automatically track AI crawler visits and provide insights into which crawlers are accessing your content and how frequently.

Configuring robots.txt for AI Crawlers

Your robots.txt file controls which crawlers can access your site. Here's how to configure it for AI crawlers:

Allow All AI Crawlers

To allow all major AI crawlers to access your content:

# Allow AI crawlers User-agent: GPTBot Allow: / User-agent: CCBot Allow: / User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: / User-agent: Google-Extended Allow: / User-agent: Applebot-Extended Allow: / # Block specific paths if needed User-agent: * Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /private/

Block Specific AI Crawlers

If you want to block a specific AI crawler (not recommended for AI search optimization):

# Block GPTBot User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: /

Best Practice Configuration

For most SaaS companies, we recommend allowing AI crawlers to access public content while blocking private areas:

# Allow AI crawlers to access public content User-agent: GPTBot Allow: / Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /dashboard/ User-agent: CCBot Allow: / Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /dashboard/ User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: / Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /dashboard/ # Standard search engines User-agent: Googlebot Allow: / User-agent: bingbot Allow: /
Important: Blocking AI crawlers will prevent your content from appearing in AI assistant recommendations. Only block crawlers if you have a specific reason (e.g., paywalled content, private data).

Best Practices

1. Allow AI Crawlers

Unless you have a specific reason to block them, allow AI crawlers to access your public content. This is essential for AI search visibility.

2. Optimize Your Content

  • Use clear, structured content: AI crawlers understand well-structured HTML with proper headings, lists, and semantic markup.
  • Add structured data: JSON-LD schema helps AI understand your content better.
  • Create an llms.txt file: Guide AI systems to your most important pages.
  • Write for clarity: AI systems prefer clear, factual content over marketing fluff.

3. Monitor Crawler Activity

Regularly check which crawlers are visiting your site and which pages they're accessing. This helps you understand what content AI systems are using.

4. Keep robots.txt Updated

As new AI crawlers emerge, update your robots.txt file to include them. Stay informed about new crawlers from major AI companies.

5. Verify Crawler Identity

Always verify crawler identity by checking both User-Agent strings and IP addresses against official sources. Don't trust User-Agent strings alone.

Monitoring Crawler Activity

Tracking which AI crawlers visit your site is crucial for understanding your AI search visibility. Here's what to monitor:

Key Metrics

  • Crawler frequency: How often each crawler visits your site
  • Pages crawled: Which pages are being accessed most frequently
  • Crawl depth: How deep crawlers go into your site structure
  • Response times: How quickly your server responds to crawler requests

Tools for Monitoring

  • Server logs: Manual analysis of access logs
  • GenieOptimize: Automated tracking and insights for AI crawler activity
  • Google Search Console: Tracks Google-Extended crawler activity
  • Custom analytics: Build your own tracking using server logs

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