AI visibility checker: can ChatGPT read your site?
AI visibility means whether ChatGPT, Perplexity, Copilot or Google’s AI Overviews mention you and link to your website. WebMeter checks the technical prerequisite for free: robots.txt must not block search bots, the content must be readable without JavaScript and the homepage must not carry nosnippet or noarchive. Nobody can guarantee a recommendation from AI, though.
What visibility in AI search means
- AI assistants with search build their answers from their own index of websites. That index is filled by bots which, according to their operators, follow the robots.txt file.
- Bots have different purposes, see the table below. For bots acting on user requests, OpenAI and Perplexity say robots.txt rules may not apply to them. For training, Google uses the Google-Extended token.
- Google’s AI Overviews and Microsoft Copilot rely on the index of a classic search engine. The SEO checker shows indexing obstacles; Bing and Seznam are covered in the guide to search engines beyond Google.
| Bot type | Examples | What it does | Blocked in robots.txt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Search | OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, PerplexityBot | Index for AI answers with links | Problem |
| On user request | ChatGPT-User, Claude-User, Perplexity-User | Opens a page when someone asks about it | Warning |
| Training | GPTBot, ClaudeBot, CCBot | Text for training models | Information |
| Classic search engines | Googlebot, bingbot, Applebot | Index of Google (AI Overviews) and Bing (Copilot) | Comparison only |
Why AI visibility matters for a small business
Customers increasingly ask an AI assistant, for example for a plumber in their town. The assistant quotes pages it has in its index or is able to read. If robots.txt blocks the search bots, the website won’t make it into answers with a link, however good its content is.
Common AI visibility problems
- robots.txt blocks all AI bots at once, search bots included, even though the owner only wanted to limit model training.
- A general User-agent: * group blocking the whole site was left over from development and applies to every bot without its own group.
- The homepage content is only rendered by JavaScript. In Vercel’s measurement from December 2024, none of the major AI crawlers ran JavaScript, so a bot may see an almost empty page.
- The homepage carries nosnippet or max-snippet:0, so Google won’t use it in AI Overviews. A noarchive or nocache directive limits its use in Copilot.
- A Seznam-Extended, AI or MachineLearning group in robots.txt, or a seznambot meta tag with nosnippet, excludes the website from AI answers by Seznam, the Czech search engine.
A missing llms.txt file is not a problem. It is optional; you’ll find details in the questions below.
What WebMeter measures for AI search
WebMeter reads the website’s robots.txt and evaluates, for the homepage, access for 28 bots from OpenAI, Anthropic, Perplexity, Google, Meta, Seznam and other operators. It compares the homepage text without JavaScript with the text after rendering in a browser; if the rendered page is missing, it marks this part as not measured. It also looks for company details in the structured data (name, url, logo, sameAs), nosnippet and max-snippet:0 directives for Google and Bing, noarchive and nocache for Copilot, and exclusion from Seznam’s AI answers. For overview only, it shows whether the website has an llms.txt file and Cloudflare Content Signals. The area is informative and doesn’t count towards the website’s overall score; the area weights are described in the scoring methodology.
WebMeter doesn’t ask ChatGPT or any other AI and doesn’t measure whether or how they mention you. The result is an estimate from public signals, not a measurement of answers. It doesn’t see blocking in a firewall or CDN that isn’t reflected in robots.txt, and it doesn’t verify whether bots actually follow the rules. It evaluates the homepage only.
AI visibility, SEO for AI and GEO
Optimising a website for AI answers is called GEO (generative engine optimization), SEO for AI or LLM visibility. This check measures its technical foundation: bots may access the website, the content is readable without JavaScript and the homepage carries no directives that stop its use in AI Overviews or Copilot. The content builds on that: direct answers to customers’ questions, specific details, contact information and a clear statement of who is behind the website.
AI inside your business, for example for email or invoices, is covered by AI automation for small businesses.
Check your AI visibility for free
Enter a domain and see what AI bots may read on your website, together with the other areas.
Not sure what to make of the result? We offer a no-obligation consultation, just write to kontakt@webmeter.eu.
Website design that ChatGPT and AI search can read
We build the new website from scratch so that its content can be read without JavaScript, robots.txt lets search bots in and structured data describes your business. Whether an AI assistant mentions you is decided by its operator, not by the website.
How website design works → Case study: from 73 to 97 points →
Frequently asked questions about AI visibility
Can WebMeter tell whether ChatGPT recommends me?
No. WebMeter doesn’t query AI assistants or measure their answers. It only shows whether the website’s settings stand in the way of AI search bots. Actual citations in Copilot and Bing’s AI summaries have been shown by the AI Performance report in Bing Webmaster Tools since February 2026.
Should I block GPTBot and other training crawlers?
That’s your decision. OpenAI separates GPTBot for training from OAI-SearchBot for search, and Google states that Google-Extended doesn’t affect inclusion in Google Search. That’s why WebMeter reports blocked training crawlers only as information. What matters is not to block the search bots by mistake.
Do I need an llms.txt file?
It isn’t necessary. It’s a proposal, not a standard. Google’s documentation of 15 June 2026 says Google Search doesn’t use it and it neither helps nor harms visibility. Some other services may read it. WebMeter only shows whether the website has one; if not, it doesn’t treat that as an error.
How do I get into ChatGPT answers and Google’s AI Overviews?
There is no guaranteed way, the AI operator chooses the sources. The prerequisite is that search bots may access the website and the content is readable without JavaScript; this check shows both. Direct answers to customers’ questions and clear company details improve the chances.
Can my hosting or CDN block AI bots?
Yes. Some CDNs, firewalls and CMS plugins can block AI bots on their own, without any entry in robots.txt. WebMeter doesn’t see such blocking because it only reads the website’s public rules.
Other areas checked
- SEO checker
- What is SEO
- SSL certificate check
- SPF, DKIM and DMARC check
- Website speed
- Cookies and GDPR on your website
- Security headers
- NIS2 and your website
- Competitor comparison
- Website accessibility
- Third parties on your website
- Domain and DNS check
- CMS and technology
- Website exposure check
- Company and e-shop
- Search engines beyond Google
- Overview of everything WebMeter checks
How the check treats your website is described on the page about the WebMeterBot robot; what is stored and for how long is in the data processing policy.