What is OAI-SearchBot?
Updated By Akkrev
OAI-SearchBot is OpenAI's crawler for ChatGPT search. If a hotel blocks it, the hotel can drop out of ChatGPT's answers and citations.
OAI-SearchBot is the crawler OpenAI uses to build the index behind ChatGPT search. When ChatGPT answers “where should I stay in York?” with named hotels and links, those links come from pages OAI-SearchBot could read.
What blocking it does
If a hotel’s robots.txt or security settings block OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT has less to go on: it may skip the hotel, or describe it from third-party listings and send guests to an online travel agency. Changes to robots.txt can take around a day to affect ChatGPT search.
OAI-SearchBot versus GPTBot
GPTBot collects training data. OAI-SearchBot powers search. They’re controlled separately, so a hotel can opt out of training while staying visible in ChatGPT.
Tracking the results
ChatGPT adds utm_source=chatgpt.com to links it sends, so visits from ChatGPT show up in analytics as their own source.
Why it matters for AI visibility
OAI-SearchBot is what ChatGPT search uses to find pages. Blocking it can keep your site out of ChatGPT’s answers.