Investigate AI Crawler Visits and Website Access

Availability and responsibility

This page explains how to assess crawler-access evidence using the log sources available to your team.

Crawler access concerns whether an automated agent can request a page and what the server returns. A successful crawl does not prove indexing or citation. A browser visit by a person does not prove that a crawler receives the same response.

Establish the evidence source

Identify whether you have server logs, CDN logs, a crawler diagnostic or another data source. Referral reports are not a substitute for request logs.

Check how bot identity is validated. A user-agent string alone can be imitated.

Investigate a URL

1. Identify the exact page and the relevant crawler.
2. Review the supported access rules and server behavior.
3. Inspect a real request record if available.
4. Check the returned status and whether content was delivered.
5. Investigate blocking, errors or authentication requirements.
6. Repeat an authorized diagnostic after a change.

Do not change firewall or robots rules merely to complete an example. Those changes require the site's operator and an understanding of the affected crawlers.

Example

An illustrative request receiving an access-denied response suggests an access problem for that request. It does not establish a site-wide failure across all bots. A successful response establishes delivery, not a future citation.

If logs are unavailable

Document that limitation and use the verified diagnostic method supported by the deployment. Do not present guessed crawler activity as measured data.

An AI Chatbots report or setup prompt alone does not establish active server/CDN-log collection. Use crawler-specific instructions only for a deployment with a configured source and actual request records. Zero recorded requests does not prove that bots never visited.