OAI-SearchBot — ChatGPT Search Indexer
OAI-SearchBot indexes pages for ChatGPT Search. Learn how it differs from GPTBot and whether you should allow or block it in robots.txt.
QUICK FACTS
OAI-SearchBot What is OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot crawls and indexes web content so it can appear as cited sources in ChatGPT Search results. Unlike GPTBot, it does NOT collect data for model training. Allowing OAI-SearchBot while blocking GPTBot is the canonical pattern for sites that want ChatGPT Search presence without contributing to foundation model training.
How to Block OAI-SearchBot
Add the following to your robots.txt file (located at the root of your website):
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /
What Happens When You Block OAI-SearchBot
Your pages will not appear in ChatGPT Search results. This does NOT affect Google Search, Bing, or any other search engine.
Should You Block OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot is a search indexer — it indexes your content so it can appear in OpenAI's AI-powered search results. Blocking it removes your visibility in that product but does not affect traditional search engines (Google, Bing). Consider whether AI search traffic is valuable to you before blocking.
OAI-SearchBot vs Other OpenAI Crawlers
OpenAI operates multiple crawlers, each serving a different purpose:
| User-agent | Purpose | Type |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Indexes content for ChatGPT Search citations | AI Search Index |
| GPTBot | Collects training data for GPT models | AI Training |
| ChatGPT-User | Live page fetches triggered by ChatGPT users | User-Triggered Fetch |
Each crawler operates independently. Blocking OAI-SearchBot does not block GPTBot or ChatGPT-User — you must add a separate rule for each.
GENERATE YOUR ROBOTS.TXT
Use our visual generator to create a robots.txt file that blocks OAI-SearchBot and any other crawlers you want to opt out of.
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