Sites mistakenly block AI crawlers that could cite their content, developers advised

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Many websites inadvertently block AI search crawlers due to outdated robots.txt rules copied during earlier AI-blocking trends. Developers are advised to audit their current robots.txt files and server logs to identify which AI crawlers are being blocked. Key AI providers like OpenAI and Anthropic operate separate crawlers for training models, search indexing, and user-triggered page visits. Blocking search crawlers can prevent a site's content from being cited in AI assistant answers, while blocking training crawlers is a content policy choice. A common approach is to allow search and user-triggered crawlers while disallowing training crawlers, but developers should verify current user agents from official provider documentation.

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