OAI-SearchBot
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's dedicated crawler for ChatGPT Search, used to build the live web index that powers in-product ChatGPT search results.
Track oai-searchbot for your brand
See how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Gemini, and Google AI Overviews mention you — your first searches are free.
OAI-SearchBot is distinct from GPTBot. GPTBot crawls for training; OAI-SearchBot crawls for real-time search inside ChatGPT.
Why the distinction matters
Many publishers block GPTBot to opt out of model training but unintentionally lose ChatGPT Search citations because they assume one directive covers both. It does not.
# Block training, allow search and on-demand fetch
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Allow: /
Where OAI-SearchBot shows up
OAI-SearchBot fetches pages so ChatGPT can:
- Cite them as sources in ChatGPT Search answers
- Generate fresh summaries for in-product browsing
- Resolve real-time questions (news, prices, current events)
SEO and GEO implications
Allowing OAI-SearchBot puts your URLs in front of ChatGPT's 800M+ monthly users when they ask questions in the chat interface. For most commercial content, this is now a non-negotiable channel.
