# Claude-SearchBot blocked far more than OAI-SearchBot, study finds

Published: 2026-10-19T00:20:30.657Z · Source: OpenAEO (https://openaeo.dev/study)
Source date: 2026-08-11
Flags: OpenAEO study — vendor-published, catch-up (Aug 11)
Entities: anthropic, openai

OpenAEO, an AI-visibility vendor, measured 131 publisher, SaaS, ecommerce and agency domains for how they treat AI crawlers by name, narrowing to 12 sites after a correction removed a parked domain. OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot was allowed by 11 of the 12; Anthropic's Claude-SearchBot by only 4, with AP, Forbes, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Verge and Vox among those blocking Claude's crawler while permitting OpenAI's. OpenAEO attributes the gap to publishers having learned OpenAI runs separate search and training crawlers, and not having learned the same about Anthropic.

Why it matters: The gap suggests publishers have learned OpenAI runs separate search and training crawlers but have not learned the same about Anthropic, so Claude-SearchBot is going down with blanket Claude blocks aimed at training.

## What this answers

**Do publishers block Anthropic's AI search crawler more than OpenAI's?**

Yes, per an OpenAEO measurement of 12 publisher sites: OpenAI's OAI-SearchBot was allowed by 11, Anthropic's Claude-SearchBot by only 4, including blocks at AP, Forbes, The Guardian, The New Yorker, The Verge and Vox.


Canonical: https://anythingengineoptimization.com/item/2026-10-19-claude-searchbot-blocked-far-more-than-oai-searchbot-study-finds/
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