Checks / AI crawler access
Your firewall or CDN refuses AI search crawlers
Our test request with an AI search crawler's user agent was refused (403, 429, challenge page or timeout) while a browser got the page. Real crawlers may still get through if your CDN verifies them by IP, so check your CDN logs.
waf_blocks_bots · AI crawler access · Error
What to change
In Cloudflare, Akamai, Sucuri or your host's WAF, allow the verified AI search crawlers (OAI-SearchBot, PerplexityBot, Claude-SearchBot) or turn off 'Block AI bots'.
How common it is
On a sample, the study measured a firewall refusing a live request from a search crawler on the homepage: 3 of 293 Show HN sites (1%), and 0 of 66 Lovable sites (0%).
Fetched 20 and 21 Oct 2026 as CitedBot, robots.txt obeyed, no JavaScript. Study: Launch crawl 2026-10 (English).
About this check
| Check ID | waf_blocks_bots |
|---|---|
| Report section | AI crawler access |
| Severity | Error |
| How it is decided | Measured: read directly from the page or the server's response. |
| Added | Before 19 Oct 2026 (versions 1 and 2), or a site-wide check with no version date yet |
| Status | Measured in every report |
| Report gives the code | No, the fix is described in words |
Related checks
- Your firewall or CDN refuses AI training crawlers
- Site is not served over HTTPS
- Pages return an error status
- robots.txt blocks ChatGPT-User
- robots.txt blocks Claude-SearchBot
- robots.txt blocks Claude-User
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