What is an AI crawler simulation?

An AI crawler simulation sends real HTTP requests to your website using the exact user-agent strings of AI search bots like ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, and Grok. It tests whether your server allows or blocks each crawler, helping you understand your visibility in AI search results.

How many AI crawlers does this tool test?

This tool tests 16 AI crawlers organized into three categories: 5 AI search bots (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot, Grok, Bravebot), 5 content fetcher bots (ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User, Meta-ExternalFetcher, MistralAI-User), and 6 training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot, Meta-ExternalAgent).

Yes, the AI crawler simulation is completely free. You get an instant AI visibility score and summary. Enter your email to receive the full detailed report with all 16 crawler results, robots.txt analysis, and actionable recommendations.

What is the difference between AI search bots and training crawlers?

AI search bots (like OAI-SearchBot and PerplexityBot) index your content so it appears in AI search results, driving traffic to your site. Training crawlers (like GPTBot and ClaudeBot) scrape content to train AI models but do not drive traffic. The recommended strategy is to allow search bots while blocking training crawlers.

What is llms.txt and why does it matter?

llms.txt is a proposed standard (from llmstxt.org) that provides AI models with a structured summary of your website. It helps AI systems understand your site structure, key pages, and content. Having an llms.txt file can improve how AI systems interpret and cite your content in search results.

How is the AI Visibility Score calculated?

The AI Visibility Score (0-100) is calculated from five weighted factors: search bot access (35%), fetcher bot access (20%), robots.txt strategy (20%), llms.txt presence (15%), and absence of X-Robots-Tag blocking (10%). A score of 90+ means excellent AI visibility, while below 40 means AI search engines cannot effectively access your content.

Should I block training crawlers like GPTBot?

Most experts recommend blocking training crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google-Extended, Bytespider, CCBot) because they scrape your content for model training without driving any traffic back to your site. Blocking them does not affect your visibility in AI search results.

Is this a real simulation or just a robots.txt parser?

This is a real simulation. We make actual HTTP HEAD requests to your server with the exact user agent string each AI bot uses in production. This detects server-level blocks (like Cloudflare bot management or nginx rules) that a robots.txt parser would miss.

Free AI Visibility Tool

Can AI Search Engines Find Your Website?

We simulate 16 real AI crawlers against your site. ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, and 12 more. See exactly which bots can reach your content and which ones are blocked.

If AI crawlers cannot access your pages, your business will not appear in AI search results, AI Overviews, or AI citations.

Results in 10 seconds

16 real AI crawlers

No signup required

Score 0 to 100

5 AI Search Bots

ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude, Grok, Brave

5 Content Fetchers

User initiated real time page retrieval

6 Training Crawlers

GPTBot, ClaudeBot, Google Extended, more

Config Templates

robots.txt and llms.txt ready to copy

How It Works

Three Steps to Your AI Visibility Score

Paste any URL

Enter your website URL. We validate it and prepare 16 parallel crawler simulations, each using a real AI bot user agent string.

Supports any publicly accessible URL

Real HTTP simulation

We send actual HTTP HEAD requests to your server with the exact user agent each AI bot uses in production. Not a robots.txt guess. A real server response test.

Tests actual server behavior, not just config

Get your AI score

Receive your AI Visibility Score (0 to 100), see which bots are blocked, get robots.txt analysis, llms.txt status, and actionable recommendations.

Full report emailed with copy paste configs

What We Test

16 AI Crawlers in 3 Categories

Not all AI bots are the same. Search bots drive traffic. Fetchers serve users. Training crawlers just scrape. Your strategy should treat them differently.

AI Search Bots (5)

You want these allowed

OAI-SearchBotPerplexityBotClaude-SearchBotGrokBravebot

These index your content for AI search results. When someone asks ChatGPT or Perplexity a question, these bots determine if your site appears in the answer.

Content Fetchers (5)

You want these allowed

ChatGPT-UserClaude-UserPerplexity-UserMeta-ExternalFetcherMistralAI-User

These fetch your pages in real time when a user asks an AI assistant about your website. They act on behalf of humans, similar to a browser visit.

Training Crawlers (6)

Block these in robots.txt

GPTBotClaudeBotGoogle-ExtendedBytespiderCCBotMeta-ExternalAgent

These scrape your content to train AI models. They do not drive traffic to your site. Block these in robots.txt unless you want to contribute to open AI training.

Why This Matters

AI Search Is the New Front Page

AI search is not replacing Google. It is adding a new layer on top. Businesses that optimize for both traditional SEO and AI search will capture traffic from both channels.

Citation improvement

Princeton/Georgia Tech research shows structured optimization can improve AI citation rates by 40%.

ChatGPT traffic share

ChatGPT drives 87.4% of all AI referral traffic. If it cannot crawl you, you are invisible.

Freshness boost

Content under 3 months old is 3x more likely to be cited by AI search engines.

AI crawlers active

Over 120 AI crawlers are active on the web. We test the 16 that matter most for your business.

Best Practice

The Recommended AI Crawler Strategy

Based on analysis of hundreds of sites, this strategy maximizes AI search visibility while protecting your content from unauthorized training.

Bot Category	Action	Reason
AI Search Bots	Allow	Your content appears in AI search results, driving traffic
Content Fetchers	Allow	User initiated requests, most ignore robots.txt anyway
Training Crawlers	Block	Scrapes for model training, gives nothing back to your business

This is exactly how jahanzaib.ai is configured. Run the simulation on our site to see the reference implementation.

Built For

Who Needs an AI Crawler Check?

Business Owners

Discover if your business is invisible to the new AI search layer that drives purchase decisions.

SEO Professionals

Audit client sites for AI crawler access. Add AI visibility to your reporting alongside traditional SEO.

Marketing Agencies

Offer AI visibility audits as a new service. White label the results for your clients.

Content Publishers

Make sure your articles and pages appear in AI search results and get properly cited.

Free 7 Day Email Course

Learn How to Rank #1 on ChatGPT

The Generative Engine Optimization Playbook. A free 7 step email course that teaches you how to optimize your content so AI search engines cite your brand by name.

Shift from keyword lists to conversational prompts
Optimize content so AI parsers can extract and cite your brand
Amplify brand signals across the sources LLMs rely on
Measure your presence and share of answer across AI search

Join free. One lesson per day. Unsubscribe anytime.

Scan your site first to get your personalized AI visibility report alongside the course.

FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

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