Should you stop AI tools from reading your website?
For most service businesses, blocking AI search tools usually works against being named in AI answers, so it is worth deciding on purpose. OpenAI, Google and Anthropic each describe controls a site owner can use, and OpenAI keeps its search tool and its AI training separate. A web host or security product may also block AI tools by default. Ask the person who looks after your website what is set today.
What each company says its controls do
| What the company says | |
|---|---|
| OpenAI (ChatGPT) | Search and AI training are separate, and each setting is independent of the others. A site opted out of its search tool "will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers" but can still appear as navigational links. |
| AI features are built into Search, so the usual setting for what Google's search may read is the control for them. It names preview controls for limiting what is shown from a page, and a separate control for AI training and grounding in some other systems. | |
| Anthropic (Claude) | A site owner "can control what shows up in Claude outputs that use web search". Its help page includes a request about a page that already appears, which asks the owner to prove they own the web address. |
The trade-off for a service business
As general advice, a business that wants to be found through AI answers usually gains little by keeping AI search tools out, because a tool that cannot read the site has less to quote.
Refusing AI training is a separate question, about whether a company may use your pages to build its models. The reasons to refuse or allow are the owner's, and this answer takes no side. A block is also not always total: OpenAI says the opt-out rules a site sets for its tools may not apply when a ChatGPT user's question leads it to a page.
The related answer on how ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI answers, Gemini, Copilot and Claude find local businesses compares what each draws on, and the related answer on adding your business to ChatGPT covers why no form places a business in an answer.
If your host or a security product blocks AI tools by default
Some web hosts and security products block automated visitors unless told otherwise, so ask rather than assume. OpenAI says sites opted out of its search tool are not shown in ChatGPT search answers, and a host or security service can keep Google's search out in the same way.
If there is a block, the choice is to keep it, narrow it or lift it. OpenAI says a change to its search setting can take about 24 hours to be picked up.
What to ask, and who to ask
Bring these to the person who looks after your website, or to your web host's support. The related answer on whether your website needs to change for AI search has the rest of the owner's checklist.
- Is anything on our website, host or security service set to keep AI tools out, who set it, and when?
- Does it affect AI search tools, AI training, or both?
- Is that what we want, given that we want customers to find us through AI answers?
- Can it be undone, and how will we know it worked?
Sources
- OpenAI Platform documentation, the page on how OpenAI's tools visit websites (read 2026-10-31)
- Google Search Central, "AI features and your website" (last updated 2025-12-10)
- Claude Help Center, "Report, block, and remove content from Claude" (updated 2026-09-03)
Related answers
- How do ChatGPT, Perplexity, Google's AI answers, Gemini, Copilot and Claude find local businesses?
- Does your website need to change for AI search?
- Can you add your business to ChatGPT?
GEO: recommended in AI answers
When a customer asks ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Copilot, Claude or Google's AI who to call, the answer names a few businesses. GEO is the work of making yours one of them.