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AI answers · what is actually known

Being found on ChatGPT, Perplexity, Gemini and Google’s AI answers

Published · Reviewed by the OnRankSEO team

What is known is short. A site can be shown in an AI answer only when the platform’s robot is allowed to read it, the page is indexed, and the page may be shown as a snippet. None of the companies publishes how its AI chooses which sources to mention. And clearing every block makes a site eligible, nothing more.

Each company’s own words, datedNo promise of a mentionFree check, no email

Check your site free — no email

In the companies’ own words

OpenAI, on the robot behind ChatGPT search: “Sites that are opted out of OAI-SearchBot will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers, though can still appear as navigational links.”1

Google, on its AI Overviews and AI Mode: a site “must be included in Search generative AI features in Search Console to be eligible for display in generative AI features on Google Search.” And: “Just because a page meets all requirements, best practices, and complies with the policies, doesn’t mean that Google will crawl, index, or serve its content. Indexing and serving aren’t guaranteed.”2

Table of eight AI platforms showing, for each, what decides whether a site can be seen and what governs training: Google AI Overviews and AI Mode, the Search generative AI setting in Search Console, with Google-Extended for training; Google Gemini apps, no separate switch, with Google-Extended; Microsoft Copilot, Bingbot with no NOARCHIVE or NOCACHE tag, with no separate training robot; ChatGPT search, OAI-SearchBot, with GPTBot; Perplexity, PerplexityBot, with none; Claude, Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User, with ClaudeBot; Meta AI, Meta-WebIndexer, with Meta-ExternalAgent; and Apple, Applebot, with Applebot-Extended.
The eight AI platforms on this page, with the robots and settings each company documents for being seen and for training.

Check yours: the eight platforms, free

Free first look · no account, no email required

A first look at your website, and whether the eight AI systems can see it

Enter an address and, in about fifteen seconds, you get two things: what your site tells each of the eight AI companies’ robots, and twelve plain checks on the page itself. Every line says what we found, what it means, what to do, and the published rule it sits against. A site can end up blocked from an AI system without anyone meaning it to — for example, by a line pasted in to keep AI out that blocked the wrong robot.1

Showing a worked example on a demonstration site until you enter your own. Leave an email and we’ll send you the result; there’s no account to make and nothing to cancel. How we handle it.

Google AI Overviews & AI Mode
Search Console control set to Inherit — the parent property says Exclude
Blocked
ChatGPT search
OAI-SearchBot disallowed in robots.txt
Blocked
Perplexity
PerplexityBot disallowed in robots.txt
Blocked
Microsoft Copilot (Bing)
noarchive on every page — does nothing on Google, blocks Copilot on Bing
Limited
Google Gemini apps
Google-Extended disallowed. This one may well be deliberate
Your choice
Claude
No rule names any of Anthropic's three robots
Allowed in
Meta AI
No rule names Meta-WebIndexer
Allowed in
Apple — Siri, Spotlight, Safari
No rule names Applebot, and no Googlebot restriction to inherit
Allowed in
Three blocked, one degraded, three clear — and the three that are clear are clear by luck. Nothing in this site’s file names Anthropic’s, Meta’s or Apple’s robots, so those three can see it. Not because anyone decided they should: because the list somebody pasted in didn’t happen to include them.

Readable is not the same as mentioned. A worked example on a site that does not exist.

What we do about it

The audit finds what stands between your site and the eight platforms. Done-for-you does the work and reads the result every month. Each line below names the published rule it rests on.

The audit’s AI section. The eight platforms read one at a time from your robots.txt and pages, the Search generative AI setting read inside your Search Console, and how often three assistants mention you, as a rate over many runs.
Rule: The section in a real report: the sample audit. How it is scored: how we score.
Clear the blocks. Remove the robots.txt lines and page tags that stop a visibility robot, and leave the training choices to you.
Rule: OpenAI, “Overview of OpenAI Crawlers”, and each platform’s own page, listed on Can AI see your website?
Bing indexing and IndexNow. Copilot answers from Bing’s index, so the site is submitted to Bing and every changed page is announced through IndexNow.
Rule: Bing, Webmaster Guidelines, on IndexNow and on the noarchive tag.
Answers written plainly. Pages that say what your business does, for whom and where, in the words people search with: written for people, not for a machine.
Rule: Google, “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search”.
Real mentions elsewhere. Your Business Profile, the directories that matter in your trade, and the places customers already talk about you, kept accurate. Never bought or made-up mentions.
Rule: Google, “Spam policies for Google web search”, and the AI features guide above.
A monthly reading, reported as a rate. The same set of questions asked of ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity through their official APIs, several runs each, so you see “mentioned in 2 of 3 runs”, never one lucky answer.
Rule: The prompt analysis in the sample audit, with its date, prompt count and platform list.
What the audit gives youDone for you

What we will never tell you

We will never tell you:

  • That you will be mentioned or cited. Readable is not the same as mentioned. Clearing a block makes your site eligible; none of the companies publishes how its AI picks its sources.
  • Where you will rank, or when. Indexing and serving aren’t guaranteed, in Google’s own words.
  • That an llms.txt file or “schema for AI” will get you in. We found no evidence that either does, and Google’s guide says you can ignore AI text files.

We never guarantee a ranking, a search feature, an AI citation, a recovery, or a timeline. We never ask for your password.

Ask for a beta audit

Beta: 3 places left, no charge. After the beta the audit is $499, one-time.

Where are most of your customers?

No payment, no card, no account. A person replies the same day — a yes with a delivery date, or an honest no if the spots are gone. What we do with your details: privacy.

Want a person to read your whole site? Ask for a beta audit.

References

  1. OpenAI, “Overview of OpenAI Crawlers”. Read and recorded 2026-09-15.
  2. Google, “Optimizing your website for generative AI features on Google Search” (documentation updated 2026-07-10). Read 2026-09-11.