Should I Block AI Bots?
Understanding the pros and cons of allowing AI crawlers on your website
Our Recommendation
Allow AI bots for most websites. Blocking them reduces your discoverability in AI-powered search and conversation interfaces.
However, some specific situations warrant blocking. Read on to understand your options.
Benefits of Allowing AI Bots
AI Search Visibility
Your content can appear in ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity responses. As AI search grows, this becomes increasingly valuable.
Potential Traffic & Citations
AI assistants may link to your content as sources, driving qualified traffic to your site.
Brand Authority
Being referenced by AI systems establishes your content as authoritative and trustworthy.
Future-Proofing
As AI search becomes mainstream (predicted 50%+ of search by 2025), you'll already be indexed and discoverable.
No Bandwidth Issues
AI bots are well-behaved and respect crawl-delay directives. They won't overwhelm your server.
Competitive Advantage
Many sites still block AI bots. Allowing them gives you an edge in AI discoverability.
Valid Reasons to Block AI Bots
Proprietary Content
If your content is unique, copyrighted, or behind a paywall, you may want to prevent AI training.
Example: News organizations, premium research sites
Competitive Intelligence
Internal docs, pricing strategies, or trade secrets that shouldn't be publicly indexed.
Example: SaaS company internal wikis, strategy docs
Legal/Regulatory Concerns
Sensitive information (medical, financial, legal) that may have regulatory restrictions.
Example: Healthcare portals, financial planning tools
User-Generated Content Issues
Forums or communities where users expect privacy or don't want content trained on.
Example: Private communities, support forums
Brand Control
Concerned about AI potentially misrepresenting or misusing your content.
Example: High-stakes legal or medical content
The Middle Ground: Selective Blocking
Allow some bots, block others - or allow some pages, block others
Option 1: Block Specific Bots
Allow trusted bots (GPTBot, ClaudeBot) but block unknown or aggressive crawlers:
# robots.txt User-agent: GPTBot Allow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Allow: / User-agent: UnknownBot Disallow: /
Option 2: Block Sensitive Sections
Allow bots on public pages but protect private areas:
# robots.txt User-agent: * Disallow: /admin/ Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /user-data/ Allow: /blog/ Allow: /docs/ Allow: /products/
Option 3: Rate Limiting
Allow bots but control crawl frequency:
# robots.txt User-agent: * Crawl-delay: 10 # Crawl max 1 page every 10 seconds
Decision Framework
Answer these questions to decide what's right for you
Question 1: Is your content public?
✅ YES → Allow AI bots (blog, marketing site, docs)
❌ NO → Block or restrict (internal wikis, private forums)
Question 2: Do you benefit from organic discovery?
✅ YES → Allow AI bots (SEO-focused sites, content publishers)
❌ NO → Consider blocking (closed apps, member-only sites)
Question 3: Is your content unique/proprietary?
✅ NO → Allow AI bots (general information, common topics)
❌ YES → Block or watermark (research, original journalism)
Question 4: Do you have legal/regulatory constraints?
✅ NO → Allow AI bots (most sites)
❌ YES → Consult legal team (HIPAA, financial data, etc.)
How to Block or Allow AI Bots
Allow All AI Bots (Recommended)
# robots.txt User-agent: * Allow: /
Block All AI Bots
# robots.txt User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / User-agent: Google-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: PerplexityBot Disallow: /
Need Help?
Use our free robots.txt generator to create your custom configuration
Smart Approach: Track First, Decide Later
Don't decide blindly. Track AI bot activity for 2-4 weeks, then make an informed decision based on real data:
See which bots are actually visiting
Identify which pages they're interested in
Measure server impact (usually negligible)
Monitor for any referral traffic from AI sources