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DIGITECH guide · 2 min read

AI crawler access checklist

Which crawlers to allow, which to decide about deliberately, and how to confirm your robots rules say what you think they say.

Written by

Maya Chen

Director of Search Strategy

14 years in search · Leads SEO and AI search programs for behavioral health and specialty care

Editorially reviewed by

Elias Morgan

Editorial Director

Former healthcare trade editor · Checks every guide against its cited sources before publication

Published · Updated · Reviewed January 15, 2026

Key points

  • Allowing or blocking AI crawlers is a business decision. Make it on purpose, then write it down in robots.txt.
  • Blocking Google-Extended does not remove a site from Search or AI Overviews; it controls a different use.

Decide, then verify

0 of 6 tickedSaved in this browser only

Google’s crawler overview lists its user agents and explains what Google-Extended controls. OpenAI publishes the same for its bots. Both change; check them when you revisit the file.

Where this applies

ServiceAI Search Optimization

Written and reviewed by

Written by

Maya Chen

Director of Search Strategy

14 years in search · Leads SEO and AI search programs for behavioral health and specialty care

Published

Maya leads the search practice at DIGITECH. She plans the SEO and AI search programs behind the agency’s behavioral health and specialty healthcare accounts, and writes about how families and patients actually research care. Her work starts with the question a person types, not the keyword a tool suggests.

LinkedIn ↗DIGITECH ↗All articles by Maya

Editorially reviewed by

Elias Morgan

Editorial Director

Former healthcare trade editor · Checks every guide against its cited sources before publication

Reviewed

Elias runs editorial review for everything DIGITECH publishes. He reads each draft against the sources it cites, checks the claims a client could be held to, and signs off on the review date that appears on the page. Before DIGITECH he edited a healthcare trade publication for eight years.

Checked against the sources above on January 15, 2026. The revision date changes whenever the text does; the review date only changes when the guide is re-checked.

Sources

  1. Overview of Google crawlers and fetchers — Google Search Central
  2. OpenAI crawlers and bots — OpenAI Platform

About this guide

Written by

Maya Chen

Director of Search Strategy

14 years in search · Leads SEO and AI search programs for behavioral health and specialty care

Read full bio

Maya leads the search practice at DIGITECH. She plans the SEO and AI search programs behind the agency’s behavioral health and specialty healthcare accounts, and writes about how families and patients actually research care. Her work starts with the question a person types, not the keyword a tool suggests.

View profile & articles →

Editorially reviewed by

Elias Morgan

Editorial Director

Former healthcare trade editor · Checks every guide against its cited sources before publication

Read full bio

Elias runs editorial review for everything DIGITECH publishes. He reads each draft against the sources it cites, checks the claims a client could be held to, and signs off on the review date that appears on the page. Before DIGITECH he edited a healthcare trade publication for eight years.

View profile & articles →

Published · Updated