Should you block GPTBot and still allow answer-engine crawlers?
Quick answer
Treat training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended) as a policy choice about model training. Treat search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot) as the path into answers. Google documents that Google-Extended does not affect Google Search visibility. OpenAI documents that blocking GPTBot is not the same as blocking ChatGPT search.
What belongs in your crawler matrix?
List user agent, purpose (training vs search), allow or block, owner, and review date. Share with hosting and security vendors.
What does Google-Extended control?
Google’s crawler docs describe Google-Extended for generative AI training uses separate from Googlebot. Blocking it is not a substitute for fixing thin content.
How do you communicate externally?
If you block training bots, say so in your privacy or AI policy. Customers still expect accurate answers; keep proof pages crawlable for search bots.
Frequently asked questions
Does blocking ClaudeBot remove Claude search citations?
Anthropic documents separate crawlers for training and search. Match each bot to your intent.
Can we block all OpenAI bots?
You can, but expect reduced visibility in ChatGPT search answers. Make that trade on purpose.
How often should we review?
Quarterly, or after any security vendor enables a new bot category.
Need this applied to your brand?
Book a call with fisagency, or continue in Calculators, Prompts, and Skills.