Short answer: ChatGPT search shows websites that OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, is allowed to reach. Make sure your robots.txt and your firewall let it in, then look for it in your server logs. Blocking GPTBot, the crawler for training, is a separate choice and doesn’t take you out of search answers.
How ChatGPT search finds websites
OpenAI uses several agents, and only OAI-SearchBot is used for search: it surfaces websites in ChatGPT’s search features. OpenAI says sites opted out of it won’t be shown in search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links.
For a site to appear in search results, OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allowing requests from the IP ranges it publishes. It also notes that a robots.txt change can take about 24 hours to reach search results. When a site allows both OAI-SearchBot and GPTBot, OpenAI may use one crawl for both.
OpenAI’s agents and what they do
| Agent | What OpenAI uses it for | Good to know |
|---|---|---|
| OAI-SearchBot | Finding websites for ChatGPT search answers | Blocking it keeps you out of search answers |
| GPTBot | Crawling content that may be used to train its models | Blocking it says your content shouldn’t train them |
| ChatGPT-User | Visiting a page when a person asks ChatGPT something | robots.txt rules may not apply to it |
| OAI-AdsBot | Checking pages submitted as ads on ChatGPT | It visits the page of an ad you submit |
From OpenAI’s «Overview of OpenAI Crawlers», read November 3, 2026.
How to make sure ChatGPT can find your site
- Open yoursite.com/robots.txt and look for any rule that names OAI-SearchBot or blocks all agents.
- Remove any rule that blocks OAI-SearchBot, if you want to appear in ChatGPT search.
- Decide about GPTBot on its own: blocking it says your content shouldn’t train OpenAI’s models.
- Check that your firewall or security plugin doesn’t block the IP ranges OpenAI publishes, such as openai.com/searchbot.json.
- Wait about a day after a change, the time OpenAI gives for search to adjust.
- Search your server logs for OAI-SearchBot and see which pages it reads.
- Check each visit’s IP against OpenAI’s published list, since any program can use the name.
Our robots.txt guide covers the file itself. Our guides to llms.txt and to Google’s AI Overviews cover the other places where AI meets your site.
What our own logs show
We read our server’s access logs from October 23 to November 3, 2026, and kept only requests whose IP sits in OpenAI’s published list for that agent. Our robots.txt has no rule for any OpenAI agent, so all of them are allowed.
OAI-SearchBot visits our pages, guides included, and reads our robots.txt on its own. GPTBot shows up far less often, which fits OpenAI’s note on sharing one crawl. ChatGPT-User appears too, each time a person asks ChatGPT something it answers with one of our pages.
Some requests used the names of OAI-SearchBot, GPTBot and OAI-AdsBot from addresses outside OpenAI’s lists. Without the IP check, we would have counted them as OpenAI.
Before you call your site open to ChatGPT
- robots.txt doesn’t block OAI-SearchBot.
- Your choice on GPTBot is deliberate.
- Your firewall lets in OpenAI’s published IP ranges.
- OAI-SearchBot shows up in your logs.
- Its visits come from OpenAI’s published addresses.
- You checked again a day after any robots.txt change.
RememberOAI-SearchBot decides whether ChatGPT search can show you. Let it in, leave GPTBot to a separate choice, and trust the IP list, not the name.
If you want your site set up for AI search, see our AI search optimization service.
Quick answers about ChatGPT search
How does ChatGPT search find websites?
Through OpenAI’s search crawler, OAI-SearchBot, which OpenAI uses to surface websites in ChatGPT’s search features. Sites opted out of it won’t be shown in search answers, though they can still appear as navigational links.
Does blocking GPTBot remove my site from ChatGPT search?
No. OpenAI says each setting is independent: you can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in search results and disallow GPTBot to say your content shouldn’t be used to train its models.
What is ChatGPT-User?
The agent ChatGPT uses when a person asks it something and it visits a page to answer. OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply to those visits, and that ChatGPT-User isn’t used to decide whether content appears in search.
How long does a robots.txt change take to work in ChatGPT?
OpenAI says it can take about 24 hours from a robots.txt update for its systems to adjust for search results. Check your logs a day later to see whether OAI-SearchBot reads the new file.
How do I know a visit comes from OpenAI?
Match its IP address against the lists OpenAI publishes for each agent. In our own logs, some requests used the OAI-SearchBot name from addresses outside OpenAI’s list, so the name alone proves nothing.
Sources
Read on November 3, 2026. OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI Crawlers. Our own case: our server’s access logs from October 23 to November 3, 2026, checked against the IP lists OpenAI publishes, and our robots.txt.