How to get your site cited in ChatGPT search
ChatGPT search only quotes sites OAI-SearchBot can read. What OpenAI's documentation says, the robots.txt line that matters, and what you can't control.
When ChatGPT searches the web and shows a source card, that page came through OpenAI's search systems. OpenAI publishes what site owners can control, and it's short.
The one rule that matters: allow OAI-SearchBot
OpenAI's crawler documentation says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features, and that sites opted out of it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers. They can still appear as plain navigational links. OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt and allowing requests from its published IP ranges.
Two related bots are often confused with it:
- GPTBot crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's models. Blocking it is a training opt-out. OpenAI says the settings are independent, so you can block GPTBot and still allow OAI-SearchBot.
- ChatGPT-User visits a page when a user's request needs it. OpenAI says it isn't used to decide whether content appears in search, and because it's user-initiated, robots.txt rules may not apply.
# Appear in ChatGPT search, opt out of training
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /OpenAI says changes to robots.txt can take about 24 hours to take effect for search.
Check your firewall, not just robots.txt
A permissive robots.txt does nothing if the request never reaches it. In July 2025 Cloudflare announced that new domains are asked up front whether to allow AI crawlers, with blocking as the default choice. Many hosts and security plugins have similar "block AI bots" switches. If you use one, make sure it treats search bots like OAI-SearchBot differently from training bots.
What makes a page worth citing
OpenAI doesn't publish a ranking formula, and anyone who claims to know it is guessing. What you can control is whether your page is a good answer:
- State the facts a customer needs in plain text: what you do, where, for whom, prices or ranges, hours.
- Put the main content in the server-rendered HTML. Vercel's December 2024 study found OpenAI's crawlers didn't execute JavaScript (more on that here).
- Be described consistently on other sites (directories, reviews, local press). Assistants often rely on what others say about you.
Measure it
OpenAI says ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to referral links, so you can see ChatGPT search visits in Google Analytics. Here's how to set that report up.
Start with the AI Crawler Checker. It tells you in a few seconds whether OAI-SearchBot can read your site.
Sources
How to show up in each AI assistant
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