What is Claude-SearchBot?

Claude-SearchBot is a specialized web crawler developed and operated by Anthropic, the AI company behind the Claude AI assistant. This crawler functions as a critical component of Claude's web search capabilities, enabling the AI to access current information from the internet. Launched alongside Claude's web search feature, Claude-SearchBot systematically indexes publicly available online content to optimize the relevance and precision of search results provided to Claude users. As a dedicated search crawler (distinct from other Anthropic crawlers), it identifies itself in server logs with the user-agent string Claude-SearchBot. The crawler adheres to ethical web crawling practices, including respecting robots.txt directives and implementing reasonable crawl rates to minimize server impact. Claude-SearchBot prioritizes domains with high informational value and frequent updates, employing algorithms that balance comprehensive coverage with responsible resource usage.

Why is Claude-SearchBot crawling my site?

Claude-SearchBot visits websites to gather current information that helps Claude provide up-to-date answers to user queries. If you're seeing this bot in your logs, it's likely indexing your content to make it potentially available in Claude's search results. The crawler is particularly interested in informational content, news, research, product information, and other material that might be relevant to user questions. The frequency of visits depends on your site's content type and update patterns—sites with frequently changing, high-value information may see more regular visits. Claude-SearchBot's crawling is a standard, authorized web indexing activity similar to other search engine crawlers, though website owners maintain control over access through standard blocking mechanisms.

What is the purpose of Claude-SearchBot?

Claude-SearchBot exists specifically to power Claude's web search feature, enabling the AI to supplement its training knowledge with current information from the internet. When users activate web search, Claude-SearchBot retrieves relevant pages, which Claude then processes into synthesized answers with proper citations. This functionality addresses a key limitation in earlier AI models, which relied solely on pre-trained knowledge with no access to real-time information. The bot's purpose is to enhance Claude's ability to answer questions about recent events, current product offerings, the latest research, or other time-sensitive topics. For website owners, having content indexed by Claude-SearchBot can increase visibility and traffic through AI-assisted search, potentially reaching audiences who use Claude as an information discovery tool.

How do I block Claude-SearchBot?

Claude-SearchBot respects standard robots.txt directives, making this the simplest and most reliable method to control its access to your site. To completely block the bot from crawling your site, add the following to your robots.txt file:

User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Disallow: /

To block access to specific directories or files while allowing access to other parts of your site, you can use more targeted directives:

User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /members-only/
Disallow: /confidential-data.html

Anthropic advises against IP-based blocking, as this method prevents the crawler from reading robots.txt files and complicates persistent opt-outs. The company also provides an email contact (likely claudebot@anthropic.com) for addressing crawl-related issues, though specific details may vary. Blocking Claude-SearchBot will prevent your content from appearing in Claude's search results but doesn't necessarily affect whether your content might be used in other ways. Consider whether the potential visibility and traffic from Claude's user base outweighs any concerns before implementing blocks.

Claude-SearchBot