How do I know if AI crawlers can actually access my site? Testing guide needed

Complete testing guide:

Step 1: robots.txt Check

Check your robots.txt at yourdomain.com/robots.txt

Look for:

# Good - Explicitly allowing AI crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

Watch out for:

# Bad - Wildcard blocking all non-specified bots
User-agent: *
Disallow: /

# Bad - Explicitly blocking AI crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
Disallow: /

Step 2: robots.txt Tester

Use Google’s robots.txt tester or online tools. Test with these user agents:

• GPTBot
• PerplexityBot
• ClaudeBot
• anthropic-ai

Enter your key URLs and see if they’re allowed.

Step 3: Server Log Analysis

Search logs for AI bot signatures. Details in next reply.

Common issues that block AI crawlers:

1. robots.txt Wildcards

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

This blocks ALL non-specified bots, including AI crawlers.

Fix:

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

2. Rate Limiting Aggressive rate limiting may block crawler IPs. Check if your WAF or CDN is blocking.

3. IP Blocklists Some security plugins block “suspicious” IPs. AI crawler IPs may be flagged.

4. Authentication Required Any login requirement blocks crawlers. Ensure public content is truly public.

5. JavaScript Rendering Content only rendered via JS may not be visible. AI crawlers may not execute JavaScript fully.

6. Slow Response Pages taking over 5-10 seconds may timeout. Crawlers may give up.

Testing each:

• robots.txt: Direct URL check
• Rate limiting: Check WAF/CDN logs
• IP blocking: Test from different IPs
• Auth: Try anonymous browsing
• JS: View page source vs rendered
• Speed: GTmetrix or similar

Complete AI crawler user agent list:

OpenAI:

GPTBot

Used for ChatGPT training and browsing.

Perplexity:

PerplexityBot

Used for Perplexity AI search.

Anthropic:

ClaudeBot
anthropic-ai

Used for Claude AI.

Google:

Google-Extended

Used for Google AI/Gemini training.

Common Crawl:

CCBot

Used by many AI systems for training data.

Your robots.txt should address:

# AI Crawlers
User-agent: GPTBot
Allow: /

User-agent: PerplexityBot
Allow: /

User-agent: ClaudeBot
Allow: /

User-agent: anthropic-ai
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /

User-agent: CCBot
Allow: /

If you want to block any specific one, use Disallow. Most businesses want to allow all of them.

Online tools for testing:

1. Google’s robots.txt Tester (In Search Console)

• Submit custom user agent
• Test specific URLs
• See allow/disallow result

2. SEO Spider Tools

• Screaming Frog
• Sitebulb
• DeepCrawl Can crawl as specific user agents.

3. Manual Testing

# Test with curl as GPTBot
curl -A "GPTBot" https://yoursite.com/page

# Check response code
curl -I -A "GPTBot" https://yoursite.com/page

4. robots.txt Validators

• Google’s robots.txt Tester
• robots.txt Validator (multiple online)
• Syntax checking tools

What to test:

• Homepage
• Key content pages
• Blog posts
• Product pages
• FAQ pages

Test your most important pages explicitly.

If you’re not comfortable with command line:

GUI Log Analysis:

• GoAccess (free, visual log analyzer)
• AWStats (classic log analyzer)
• Matomo (self-hosted analytics)

Cloud Log Analysis:

• Cloudflare Analytics (if using CF)
• AWS CloudWatch (if on AWS)
• Google Cloud Logging

Third-Party Services:

• Loggly
• Papertrail
• Datadog

What to look for: Create a filter/search for AI bot user agents. Set up alerts for 403/500 responses to AI bots. Track trends over time.

Simple dashboard metrics:

• AI bot visits per day
• Most crawled pages
• Error rate
• Crawl trends

If you see zero AI bot traffic for 2+ weeks, something’s wrong.

CDN and WAF often block AI crawlers:

Cloudflare:

• Bot Fight Mode may block AI bots
• Check Security > Bots settings
• Add exceptions for AI crawler IPs if needed

AWS CloudFront/WAF:

• AWS WAF rules may block
• Check WAF logs for blocked requests
• Create allow rules for AI bots

Akamai:

• Bot Manager settings
• May require explicit allowlisting

How to check:

1. Look at CDN/WAF logs, not just origin logs
2. Check for blocked/challenged requests
3. Look for specific AI bot user agents

Our discovery: Cloudflare’s Bot Fight Mode was blocking GPTBot. Disabled for AI crawlers specifically. Saw first GPTBot visits within 24 hours.

Check your edge layer, not just your origin.

Monthly AI crawler health check routine:

Weekly Quick Check (5 min):

1. Quick log search for AI bots
2. Note any error responses
3. Check visitor count trend

Monthly Deep Check (30 min):

1. robots.txt audit

   • Still allowing AI crawlers?
   • Any new rules added that might block?

2. Log analysis

   • Which AI bots visiting?
   • Which pages most crawled?
   • Any error patterns?

3. Page speed check

   • Key pages still fast?
   • Any new performance issues?

4. Content accessibility

   • New login walls?
   • New JS-dependent content?
   • New redirects?

5. CDN/WAF review

   • Any new security rules?
   • Blocked request patterns?

Document findings: Create simple spreadsheet tracking:

• Date
• AI bots seen
• Visit counts
• Issues found
• Actions taken

This catches problems before they become invisible.

If you see zero AI crawler visits:

Troubleshooting checklist:

1. Verify robots.txt allows access ✓ No Disallow for AI bots ✓ No wildcard blocking

2. Check server accessibility ✓ Site loads from different IPs ✓ No geographic blocking

3. Review CDN/WAF ✓ Bot protection not blocking ✓ No AI bot IP blocking

4. Check page speed ✓ Pages load under 3 seconds ✓ No timeout issues

5. Verify HTML accessibility ✓ Content visible without JS ✓ No login requirements

6. Check sitemap ✓ Sitemap exists and is valid ✓ Important pages included

7. External signals ✓ Site has external links ✓ Some web presence beyond own domain

If all pass and still no visits: Your site may just not be discovered yet. Build external signals to attract attention.

Typical first visit timing:

• New site: 2-4 weeks after external mentions
• Existing site with fix: 1-2 weeks after fix
• Well-linked site: Daily visits

Perfect. Now I have a proper testing framework.

My testing plan:

Today:

1. Check robots.txt at /robots.txt
2. Verify AI crawlers are explicitly allowed
3. Test with curl command

This Week:

1. Analyze server logs for AI bot visits
2. Check CDN/WAF for blocking
3. Set up log monitoring for AI bots

Monthly:

1. Review AI crawler visit trends
2. Check for error responses
3. Verify page speed maintained
4. Audit any new robots.txt changes

Action items found:

• Add explicit Allow rules for AI crawlers
• Check Cloudflare Bot Management
• Set up automated log alerts

Key insight: Access testing is not a one-time thing. New rules, new security measures can break access. Regular monitoring catches issues early.

Thanks all - this gives me the testing framework I needed.