How to Block Claude AI From Crawling Your Website
▼ Summary
– Anthropic updated its documentation to clarify how its three distinct Claude bots access websites and how site owners can block them.
– The three bots are ClaudeBot for AI training data, Claude-User for fetching pages in response to user queries, and Claude-SearchBot for indexing content to improve search results.
– Blocking one bot does not block the others, and each choice involves a trade-off between content control and visibility within Claude’s ecosystem.
– Site owners can block these bots using specific `robots.txt` directives for each user-agent, but must apply rules separately for each bot and subdomain.
– IP blocking is not a reliable method, as the bots use public cloud IPs that are not published, and blocking these ranges could prevent access to the `robots.txt` file itself.
Website owners now have clearer guidance on managing how Anthropic’s AI models interact with their content. The company recently updated its official documentation, detailing the specific web crawlers it operates and the straightforward methods available to block them. This transparency provides publishers with greater control over whether their site’s data contributes to AI training or appears within Claude’s responses.
Anthropic employs three distinct automated agents, each with a separate function. Understanding the role of each is crucial for making an informed decision about access.
The first is ClaudeBot. This crawler’s primary job is to gather publicly available information from across the web. The data it collects is potentially used to train and enhance Anthropic’s generative AI models. If you choose to block ClaudeBot via your site’s `robots.txt` file, Anthropic states it will honor that request and exclude your future content from its AI training datasets.
Next is Claude-User. This agent springs into action when a person using Claude asks a question that requires pulling information directly from a live webpage. Blocking Claude-User means the AI assistant cannot retrieve your pages to answer such user queries. The company notes this action could reduce your content’s visibility in responses generated by user-directed searches.
The third agent is Claude-SearchBot. This crawler’s mission is to index web content to improve the quality and relevance of Claude’s own internal search capabilities. Preventing Claude-SearchBot from accessing your site means your information won’t be indexed for this purpose, which may affect how accurately or prominently your content appears in search-based answers provided by Claude.
For those wishing to restrict access, the process relies on the standard `robots.txt` protocol. Anthropic has confirmed its bots will obey standard “Disallow” rules and also respect the “Crawl-delay” extension. To block a specific bot across your entire domain, you would add corresponding directives to your `robots.txt` file. It’s important to create separate entries for each bot you wish to block, and the rules must be applied to each relevant subdomain individually.
For example, to block the main training crawler, you would include: “` User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / “`
An alternative method like IP address blocking is less reliable, according to Anthropic. The company’s crawlers operate using IP addresses from public cloud providers, and these ranges are not published. Attempting to block these IPs could inadvertently prevent the bots from even reading your `robots.txt` instructions in the first place.
This move to clarify its crawling practices gives content creators a more defined set of choices. Each decision involves a trade-off between protecting content from AI training and maintaining potential visibility within a rapidly growing AI-powered ecosystem.
(Source: Search Engine Land)
