What is OAI-SearchBot?
OAI-SearchBot is the AI crawler behind ChatGPT search. In OpenAI's words, it "is used to surface websites in search results in ChatGPT's search features" (OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers, read 1 November 2026).
OpenAI's example user agent string, with a version number that may change, ends in: compatible; OAI-SearchBot/1.4; +https://openai.com/searchbot. The IP addresses it uses are listed at openai.com/searchbot.json.
What happens if you block OAI-SearchBot?
OpenAI is clear about it: "Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links." OpenAI recommends allowing the bot in robots.txt and allowing requests from its published IP ranges.
Changes take time. OpenAI writes that it "can take ~24 hours from a site's robots.txt update" for its systems to adjust.
Why does OAI-SearchBot matter for B2B SaaS?
Buyers can ask ChatGPT for shortlists, and ChatGPT search links the pages it read. If OAI-SearchBot cannot reach your pricing page or your docs, ChatGPT search cannot cite them. Allowing it is a basic step, not a promise: OpenAI decides what it shows.
A common mistake: a firewall or bot-protection setting blocks the bot even though robots.txt allows it. Check both.
OAI-SearchBot vs GPTBot vs ChatGPT-User vs OAI-AdsBot
- OAI-SearchBot: crawls for ChatGPT search results. Controlled with robots.txt.
- GPTBot: crawls content that may be used to train OpenAI's foundation models. Controlled with robots.txt, separately.
- ChatGPT-User: visits a page when a user's request needs it. OpenAI says robots.txt rules may not apply, and that it "is not used to determine whether content may appear in Search".
- OAI-AdsBot: only visits pages submitted as ads in ChatGPT, to check them. OpenAI says its data is not used to train foundation models.
OpenAI says each setting is independent. You can allow OAI-SearchBot and block GPTBot. If you allow both, OpenAI may use one crawl for both uses.
How do you allow OAI-SearchBot?
- Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
- Make sure no group blocks OAI-SearchBot, either by name or through a catch-all "User-agent: *" with "Disallow: /".
- To be explicit, add: User-agent: OAI-SearchBot, then Allow: /.
- Allow the IP ranges in openai.com/searchbot.json in your firewall or CDN if it filters bots.
- Wait about a day, then look for OAI-SearchBot in your server logs.
The robots.txt entry explains how groups and rules work.
A hypothetical example
A hypothetical analytics startup notices that ChatGPT search never links its comparison pages. Its robots.txt allows everything. The logs show no OAI-SearchBot visits at all. The cause is a bot rule in its CDN that blocks unknown crawlers. After the team allows OpenAI's published IP ranges, OAI-SearchBot visits appear in the logs. Whether ChatGPT then cites the pages is still up to ChatGPT.
How does OAI-SearchBot connect to third-party lists?
Allowing the bot makes your own pages eligible. But ChatGPT search also reads other sites about your category, and for buyer questions those sites are cited often.
Why that matters: when Prefer checked 188 answers from ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Claude in July 2026, 40% of the sources AI assistants cited for buyer questions were independent lists. Vendors' own sites got 34%.
So the lists and reviews that name you need to be crawlable too, which is their owners' choice. The LLM SEO guide covers both sides.