A

Discovery

CRITICAL

OAI-SearchBot allowed

robots.txt permits OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI's ChatGPT discovery crawler) at the site root. ChatGPT's shopping answers cite pages OAI-SearchBot could crawl; blocking it removes you from ChatGPT results.

What this check looks for

OAI-SearchBot is the user-agent OpenAI uses to build ChatGPT's shopping and search index. A `Disallow: /` in a matching robots.txt group — either an explicit `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` group, or a wildcard `User-agent: *` group with no offsetting per-UA override — cuts the store off from ChatGPT discovery surfaces. Per RFC 9309 §2.2.1, when multiple groups match, the more specific group wins, so adding an explicit `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` group with `Allow: /` is the safest remediation when a restrictive wildcard exists.

Which AI surfaces it affects

  • ChatGPT (ACP)100
  • Microsoft Copilot30
  • Google AI Mode (UCP)0
  • Perplexity0
  • Meta AI0

Weighted against the live specs — ACP 2026-04-17, UCP 2026-04-08.

How to fix it

Allow OAI-SearchBot in robots.txt

Shopify

A few minutes
  1. Online Store → Themes → Edit code → templates/robots.txt.liquid.
  2. Add a `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` group with `Allow: /` (above any restrictive wildcard group).
  3. Save and verify by fetching `https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt` in a private window.

Platform docs ↗

BigCommerce

A few minutes
  1. Storefront → SEO → robots.txt.
  2. Add a `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` group with `Allow: /` before any restrictive `User-agent: *` rules.

WooCommerce

A few minutes
  1. Yoast SEO → Tools → File editor → robots.txt (or All in One SEO → Robots.txt Editor).
  2. Add a `User-agent: OAI-SearchBot` group with `Allow: /`.

Custom / headless

A few minutes
  1. Edit your robots.txt to add an explicit OAI-SearchBot group.
  2. Place the OAI-SearchBot group above any restrictive wildcard `User-agent: *` group — per RFC 9309 the more specific UA group wins.
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Allow: /

The spec it's pinned to

  • OpenAI bots — OAI-SearchBot

    OpenAI's bots documentation lists OAI-SearchBot as the user-agent for ChatGPT search/discovery surfaces. The page is built from sources OAI-SearchBot was permitted to crawl.

OpenAI bots — OAI-SearchBot ↗

Does your store pass this check?

Run the full audit — 82 checks across five AI shopping surfaces. Most tools only check whether you get mentioned; we check whether an agent can buy from you.

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