robots.txt for AI Optimization
Define how AI crawlers and bots can access and understand your content. Let AI tools index your site the right way with our enhanced robots.txt configuration.
⚠️ Note: Not all AI bots officially obey `robots.txt` yet, but preparing your config ensures you're aligned with current and future best practices.
📄 Recommended robots.txt Configuration
User-agent: * Allow: / Sitemap: https://airankly.com/sitemap.xml Sitemap: https://airankly.com/sitemap-ai.xml Sitemap: https://airankly.com/llms.txt
🤖 Why Customize for AI Bots?
Modern AI systems like ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini use custom crawlers. These systems may index and reuse your content in chat interfaces and voice assistants. A properly configured robots.txt improves visibility and clarity for these systems.
🛠 AI-Specific Configuration (Optional)
# Granting access to AI bots (experimental) User-agent: ChatGPT-User Allow: / User-agent: GPTBot Allow: / User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: / User-agent: GeminiBot Allow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Allow: /
💡 How It Works
- Allows general and AI-specific crawlers to access your website.
- Points them to your traditional sitemap and AI-specific sitemap.
- Ensures you're discoverable in AI search systems and LLM-based apps.
✅ AIRankly Plugin Advantage
If you use the AIRankly plugin, your robots.txt file is automatically updated — no need to edit it manually.
- Auto-includes sitemap.xml, sitemap-ai.xml, and llms.txt
- Supports GPTBot, ClaudeBot, GeminiBot, and more
- Keeps your robots file clean and future-ready
🔗 Related Resources
📘 Best Practices
- Always include your AI sitemap alongside the traditional one.
- Use HTTPS URLs in all sitemap declarations.
- Don't block AI bots unless necessary.