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Rule · AI search

robots.txt blocks AI search or user-triggered fetchers

geo/search-bots-blockederrorvoid geoupdated

Why it matters

OpenAI: sites opted out of OAI-SearchBot aren't shown in ChatGPT search answers. The same applies to Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot. Blocking user fetchers (ChatGPT-User, Claude-User) stops assistants opening pages a user asks about (warning).

How to fix it

Allow OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot and PerplexityBot (and the user fetchers) in their own robots group. Block training bots separately if you want. Set geo.intent = "block-all" in config if blocking is deliberate.

References

void geo reports 41 rules in this category. Generative-engine optimisation: whether AI crawlers that don't run JavaScript see the same content, valid and visible JSON-LD, an explicit AI robots policy, llms.txt, Markdown mirrors and answer-first writing.