# AI Crawler Audit — Are You Blocking ChatGPT? (`alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit`) Actor

Check whether your site is visible to AI search or accidentally blocking it. Audits robots.txt for GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended and 7 more, detects llms.txt, and returns an AI-readiness score with the exact fixes. No key, no login.

- **URL**: https://apify.com/alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit.md
- **Developed by:** [alaudin burki](https://apify.com/alaudinburki) (community)
- **Categories:** SEO tools, Developer tools
- **Stats:** 2 total users, 1 monthly users, 100.0% runs succeeded, 0 bookmarks
- **User rating**: No ratings yet

## Pricing

from $1.00 / 1,000 results

This Actor is paid per event. You are not charged for the Apify platform usage, but only a fixed price for specific events.

Learn more: https://docs.apify.com/actors/running/actors-in-store.md#pay-per-event

## What's an Apify Actor?

Actors are web data automations that power AI and operations. They run on the Apify platform to scrape websites, process data, connect APIs, and automate workflows.
In Batch mode, an Actor accepts a well-defined JSON input, performs an action which can take anything from a few seconds to a few hours,
and optionally produces a well-defined JSON output, datasets with results, or files in key-value store.
In Standby mode, an Actor provides a web server which can be used as a website, API, or an MCP server.
Actors are written with capital "A".

## How to integrate an Actor?

If asked about integration, you help developers integrate Actors into their projects.
You adapt to their stack and deliver integrations that are safe, well-documented, and production-ready.
The best way to integrate Actors is as follows.

- **AI agents and MCP clients** — the [Apify MCP server](https://docs.apify.com/integrations/mcp.md) at `https://mcp.apify.com` (remote, streamable HTTP, OAuth on first use).
- **Agentic workflows and local Actor development** — [Agent Skills](https://apify.com/.well-known/agent-skills/index.json) with the [Apify CLI](https://docs.apify.com/cli/docs.md): `npm install -g apify-cli`, then `apify login`.
- **JavaScript/TypeScript projects** — the official [JS/TS client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs.md): `npm install apify-client`.
- **Python projects** — the official [Python client](https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs.md): `pip install apify-client`.
- **Any other language** — the [REST API](https://docs.apify.com/api/v2.md).

For usage examples, see the [API](#api) section below.

For more details, see Apify documentation as [Markdown index](https://docs.apify.com/llms.txt) and [Markdown full-text](https://docs.apify.com/llms-full.txt).

# README

## AI Crawler Audit — Are You Blocking ChatGPT?

Check whether your site is **visible to AI search** — or quietly blocking the crawlers that feed
ChatGPT, Perplexity, Claude and Google's AI Overviews. Audits `robots.txt` for **12 AI crawlers**,
detects `llms.txt`, and returns an **AI-readiness score with the exact fixes**.

No API key, no login, no anti-bot — these are public files every site already serves.

### The problem this catches

The old SEO reflex is *block the scrapers*. The new GEO reality is *be citable*. So sites routinely
block `GPTBot` and `PerplexityBot` in robots.txt **while paying an agency to improve their AI
visibility**. This actor finds that contradiction in seconds, across a whole client list.

### What you get

| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| `domain` | The site audited |
| **`aiReadinessScore`** | 0–100: can AI assistants actually read and cite you? |
| **`aiSearchReadiness`** | `optimized` · `open` · `partial` · `blocked` |
| **`blocksAiSearch`** | `true` if any answer-critical crawler is blocked |
| `blockedSearchBots` | Which answer-critical bots are blocked (the ones that cost you citations) |
| `blockedBots` | Every blocked AI crawler, including training-only ones |
| `hasLlmsTxt` / `llmsTitle` / `llmsSections` / `llmsLinks` | Your `llms.txt`, if you publish one |
| `allowedBotCount` / `totalBotsChecked` | Coverage of the 12 crawlers checked |
| `sitemapCount` / `robotsStatus` | robots.txt health |
| **`recommendations`** | The specific fixes, in plain language |
| `botDetail` *(optional)* | Per-bot verdict + the exact robots.txt rule that matched |

**Crawlers checked:** GPTBot · OAI-SearchBot · ChatGPT-User · ClaudeBot · Claude-User · PerplexityBot ·
Perplexity-User · Google-Extended · Applebot-Extended · CCBot · Bytespider · meta-externalagent.

### How to use it

1. Paste your domains (or a whole client list — full URLs are fine).
2. Run it. Sites are returned **worst score first**, so the problems are at the top.
3. Tick **Only return sites that block AI search** when auditing a long list — you get just the ones
   with a real problem.

### Input

```json
{
  "domains": ["stripe.com", "notion.so", "example.com"],
  "onlyBlockedSites": false,
  "includeBotDetail": false,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

### Sample output

```json
[
  {
    "domain": "example.com",
    "aiReadinessScore": 14,
    "aiSearchReadiness": "partial",
    "blocksAiSearch": true,
    "blockedSearchBots": "OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended",
    "blockedBots": "GPTBot, OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, CCBot",
    "hasLlmsTxt": false,
    "llmsTitle": null,
    "allowedBotCount": 7,
    "totalBotsChecked": 12,
    "sitemapCount": 1,
    "robotsStatus": 200,
    "recommendations": "Unblock OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended in robots.txt — these decide whether you can appear in AI answers. | Add an /llms.txt so AI assistants get a curated map of your key pages.",
    "status": "ok"
  }
]
```

### Typical uses

- **Agency audit** — run a client list and lead with "you're invisible to ChatGPT, here's the one-line fix."
- **Pre-GEO baseline** — check AI-crawler access *before* paying for AI-visibility work; pairs directly
  with the **AI Brand Visibility Tracker** actor (this says *can* they read you, that says *do* they cite you).
- **Competitor check** — see which competitors have opened up to AI crawlers and published `llms.txt`.
- **Monitoring** — schedule it; a robots.txt edit that silently blocks GPTBot is a real regression.

### Pricing

**$1.00 / 1,000 sites audited** (`$0.001` per result), plus a near-zero start fee. Never charged beyond
your `maxItems`; unreachable domains are reported as rows with a `failureReason`, not billed as data.

### FAQ & limitations

- **Does a missing robots.txt mean blocked?** No — the opposite. Crawlers fall back to allow-all, which
  is *unmanaged* rather than blocked; the actor flags the non-200 status so you can decide.
- **Is `llms.txt` required?** No, it's an emerging convention. Publishing one adds 15 points here because
  it gives assistants a curated map of your key pages.
- **Does blocking a *training* bot hurt citations?** Not directly — that's why the score weights the
  **answer-critical** bots (search + live-fetch) and lists training-only blocks separately.
- **Does this prove you'll be cited?** No. It proves you're *reachable*. Use the AI Brand Visibility
  Tracker to measure whether you're actually mentioned.
- **Rate limits / blocks?** robots.txt is public and cheap to fetch; the proxy toggle exists but is rarely needed.

### Related actors

- **AI Brand Visibility Tracker** — do ChatGPT/Perplexity actually mention and cite you?
- **HTTP Header Analyzer** — security-header grade for the same domains.
- **Broken Link Checker** · **Sitemap URL Extractor** — the rest of a technical site audit.

# Actor input Schema

## `domains` (type: `array`):

Domains or URLs to audit. Scheme, www and path are stripped automatically.

## `onlyBlockedSites` (type: `boolean`):

Filter the output down to the sites with a real problem — useful when auditing a long client list.

## `includeBotDetail` (type: `boolean`):

Adds a botDetail array with the verdict and matched robots.txt rule for every AI crawler checked.

## `useProxy` (type: `boolean`):

Route requests through Apify Proxy. Rarely needed — robots.txt is public.

## `maxItems` (type: `integer`):

Hard limit, strictly enforced. You are never charged beyond this.

## Actor input object example

```json
{
  "domains": [
    "stripe.com",
    "notion.so"
  ],
  "onlyBlockedSites": false,
  "includeBotDetail": false,
  "useProxy": false,
  "maxItems": 1000
}
```

# Actor output Schema

## `results` (type: `string`):

AI-crawler audit rows produced by this run.

# API

You can run this Actor programmatically using our API. Below are code examples in JavaScript, Python, and CLI, as well as the OpenAPI specification and MCP server setup.

## JavaScript example

```javascript
import { ApifyClient } from 'apify-client';

// Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
// Replace the '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token
const client = new ApifyClient({
    token: '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>',
});

// Prepare Actor input
const input = {
    "domains": [
        "stripe.com",
        "notion.so"
    ]
};

// Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
const run = await client.actor("alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit").call(input);

// Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if any)
console.log('Results from dataset');
console.log(`💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/${run.defaultDatasetId}`);
const { items } = await client.dataset(run.defaultDatasetId).listItems();
items.forEach((item) => {
    console.dir(item);
});

// 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/js/docs

```

## Python example

```python
from apify_client import ApifyClient

# Initialize the ApifyClient with your Apify API token
# Replace '<YOUR_API_TOKEN>' with your token.
client = ApifyClient("<YOUR_API_TOKEN>")

# Prepare the Actor input
run_input = { "domains": [
        "stripe.com",
        "notion.so",
    ] }

# Run the Actor and wait for it to finish
run = client.actor("alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit").call(run_input=run_input)

# Fetch and print Actor results from the run's dataset (if there are any)
print(f"💾 Check your data here: https://console.apify.com/storage/datasets/{run.default_dataset_id}")
for item in client.dataset(run.default_dataset_id).iterate_items():
    print(item)

# 📚 Want to learn more 📖? Go to → https://docs.apify.com/api/client/python/docs/quick-start

```

## CLI example

```bash
echo '{
  "domains": [
    "stripe.com",
    "notion.so"
  ]
}' |
apify call alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit --silent --output-dataset

```

## MCP server setup

```json
{
    "mcpServers": {
        "apify": {
            "type": "http",
            "url": "https://mcp.apify.com/?tools=fetch-actor-details,alaudinburki/ai-crawler-audit"
        }
    }
}

```

The hosted server signs you in with OAuth on first connect, so no API token belongs in this config. Clients without OAuth support can send an `Authorization: Bearer <APIFY_API_TOKEN>` header instead, using a token from API & Integrations in Apify Console (https://console.apify.com/settings/integrations).

## OpenAPI specification

Download the OpenAPI definition: https://api.apify.com/v2/actors/6eNZzZmABByvSqJVQ/builds/w38fG1cwHyQcWeDGN/openapi.json