What is Claude-SearchBot?
Claude-SearchBot is Anthropic's search crawler. Anthropic says it navigates the web to improve the relevance and accuracy of the search responses Claude gives users.
Last verified 2026-09-30 against the operator's documentation. All bots
Claude-SearchBot at a glance
- Operator
- Anthropic
- Type
- AI search crawlers
- Purpose
- Indexes pages to improve Claude's search results.
- robots.txt token
Claude-SearchBot- How to verify
- Check that the source IP is in the ranges Anthropic publishes for its crawlers.
- Operator documentation
- https://support.claude.com/en/articles/8896518
How often is Claude-SearchBot impersonated?
For the median organisation, over 99% of requests claiming to be Claude-SearchBot failed verification.
Measured between 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026 across organisations protected by Centinel. We only publish a share when at least five organisations each saw enough of these requests. Pooled across all of their requests, the share was 2%: a few large organisations carry most of the traffic, so the median organisation is the better guide to what yours will see.
This directory measures requests between 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026. The fake crawler report covers its own, earlier window (late June to 21 September 2026), so its figures differ from the ones here. Read it for the method.
Have a request that claims to be Claude-SearchBot? Check its IP address.
Should you block Claude-SearchBot?
- Allow it if
- you want Claude's search to find and cite your pages.
- Block it if
- you do not want your pages indexed for Claude's search results.
- What blocking changes
- Anthropic says it stops your content being indexed for search, which may reduce your visibility in Claude's search results.
To block it, add this group to your robots.txt. Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt and support Crawl-delay.
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
Disallow: /robots.txt only asks. It does nothing against a client that ignores it or only pretends to be Claude-SearchBot. Stopping those takes verification at your edge.
Claude-SearchBot: common questions
See which bots reach your site, and which of them are who they claim to be.
What is Claude-SearchBot?
Claude-SearchBot is Anthropic's search crawler. Anthropic says it navigates the web to improve the relevance and accuracy of the search responses Claude gives users.
How do I verify that a request is really Claude-SearchBot?
Check that the source IP is in the ranges Anthropic publishes for its crawlers. The user agent alone proves nothing: any client can send it.
How do I block Claude-SearchBot in robots.txt?
Add a group for User-agent: Claude-SearchBot with Disallow: /. Anthropic says its bots honor robots.txt and support Crawl-delay. robots.txt only asks. A client that ignores it, or pretends to be Claude-SearchBot, has to be stopped at your edge.
What happens if I block Claude-SearchBot?
Anthropic says it stops your content being indexed for search, which may reduce your visibility in Claude's search results.
Related bots
- ClaudeBot (Anthropic): Collects web content that could contribute to Claude model training.
- Claude-User (Anthropic): Fetches a page when a Claude user's question needs it.
- OAI-SearchBot (OpenAI): Surfaces websites in ChatGPT's search features.
- PerplexityBot (Perplexity): Surfaces and links websites in Perplexity's search results.
- DuckAssistBot (DuckDuckGo): Crawls in real time to support DuckDuckGo's AI-assisted answers.