AI Bots in SEO: To Hit or Not to Hit?

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AI bots like GPTBot, CCBot, and Google-Extended play an important role in training AI models to process SEO content and more. They crawl websites, collect data, and help develop and improve algorithms for learning natural language and building linguistic patterns.

However, not many optimizers and resource owners understand what to do with them: whether they should be blocked on their sites, closed in robots.txt or take any other actions. In this article, we will consider the pros and cons of blocking AI bots and find out whether they have any consequences for SEO.

Contents
1. Taming AI Bots
2. Examples of industries where AI bots are blocked
2.1. Owners of news resources
2.2. Online stores
2.3. Digital Advertising
3. Pros and cons of blocking AI bots
3.1. Pros
3.2. Cons
4. To hit or not to hit - that is the question

Taming AI Bots​

This year, the SEO industry has been debating whether to allow or block AI bots from accessing websites to index content. On the one hand, there are concerns about the potential for bots to abuse the data they collect or copy it without permission.

And such concerns are justified. What if it’s not a useful bot, but a malicious one that steals content or compromises users’ sensitive data? Blocking such AI-powered web crawlers could be a protective measure against content theft.

On the other hand, blocking AI bots can have its downsides. Artificial intelligence models rely heavily on analyzing large amounts of data to produce accurate results and improve user experience. Blocking certain bots can impact the visibility of sites in search results, which can negatively impact SEO efforts.

Examples of industries that block AI bots​

This area is still fairly new and under-explored, as search engines are just beginning to offer options for blocking AI bots. In response to the growing need for content control, Google has introduced Google-Extended, a feature that allows site owners to block bots from accessing specific content. Basically, Google-Extended is a token that can be added to robots.txt.

The technology was developed after receiving feedback from publishers who expressed a desire to have greater control over their content. AI bots use Google-Extended to decide whether they can access content and use it to train artificial intelligence.

Owners of news resources​

It is worth noting that most owners of major news sites have taken a firm stance. Many publications block AI bots to protect their content and retain intellectual property rights.

According to Palewire research, 47% of monitored news sites already block AI bots. These reputable outlets understand the importance of protecting their content from unauthorized scanning and potential manipulation.

In this way, they ensure the integrity of their news while maintaining their status as trusted sources of information. Their collective decision highlights the importance of preserving quality content. The digital media industry needs to find a balance between providing access to AI robots for training and preserving intellectual property.

Online stores​

Online stores that post high-quality and unique product descriptions on their websites can block AI bots. This is due to the protection of catalogs from cloning and creating duplicates by fraudsters, dishonest marketing partners and competitors. And the content of the product page plays a vital role in attracting potential customers.

E-commerce sites invest a lot of time, effort, and money into creating their brand identity and presenting their products in a compelling way. Blocking AI bots is a preventative measure to protect their competitive advantage, intellectual property, and overall business success.

Digital Advertising​

Not all AI bots are useful. There are malicious scripts that attack websites for malicious purposes. They steal content, buy goods, compromise user data, click on ads.

Cybersecurity systems such as Botfaqtor allow you to catch and block bots that click on ads in time. Machine learning technology, big data analysis, and over 100 technical and behavioral parameters for assessing a visit are used to detect each of them.

Pros and Cons of Blocking AI Bots​

As the neural network, artificial intelligence, and machine learning industry evolves rapidly and their models become more and more sophisticated, you should consider the consequences of allowing or blocking AI bots. To make the right choice, you need to weigh the pros and cons of protecting your content while blocking crawlers.

Below we will look at the pros and cons of blocking and give our recommendations.

Pros​

You can block AI bots from accessing SEO and other content on your site. This approach has the following advantages:

• Protect your intellectual property. You can prevent bots like OpenAI GPTBot, CCBot, Google Bard, and others from scraping your content. This helps protect your intellectual property and ensures that the time and effort you put into developing it is not wasted.
• Optimizing server load. Every day, your site is scanned by dozens of robots: search engines, neural networks, botnets. And each of them increases the load on the server. Blocking these bots can save resources.
• Content Control: Blocking AI bots gives you full control over your content and its use. This allows you to determine who can access and use it, and align it with your desired purpose.
• Protection from unwanted associations. Artificial intelligence can associate website content with misleading or inappropriate information. Blocking reduces the risk of such associations, allowing you to maintain the integrity and reputation of your brand.

These were the advantages of the approach to blocking access of AI bots to SEO content, directories, news feeds of your site. Now let's look at its disadvantages.

Cons​

While blocking AI bots has its benefits, it also has potential drawbacks. You can restrict their access to your resources. In this case, it will be important to focus on your goals, assess the reputational risks, study how it may affect users and whether it may affect the SEO of the site.

• Impact on AI model training: AI models, such as large language models (LLMs), are trained on large text datasets to improve their accuracy. By blocking AI bots, you limit the availability of valuable data that can help develop and improve these models.
• Visibility and indexing. The most important thing in SEO is the visibility of a resource in search results and its indexing by useful bots. AI bots, especially those associated with search engines, can play a key role in the discovery and visibility of pages. Blocking these bots can affect the visibility of a site in search engine results, which can potentially lead to a decrease in the effectiveness of optimization and promotion efforts, as well as missed opportunities for information disclosure. For example, with the help of generative AI search technology (SGE, Search Generative Experience), Google provides short answers using data from indexed sites. If the Google Bard crawler is blocked from accessing content, then the content from the site will not be cited in this block. Thus, you can lose potential target traffic for a pool of certain quotes and queries.
• Limiting collaboration opportunities: Blocking AI bots may prevent potential collaboration with AI researchers or developers who are interested in using text data from the site. Collaboration with them could lead to valuable insights, optimizations, or innovations in the field of AI.
• Unintentional blocking: By improperly configuring your robots.txt file to include directives to prevent AI bots from crawling your site, you may mistakenly exclude other search engine crawlers. This will prevent accurate site crawling and data analysis, which can lead to missed SEO opportunities.

When considering whether to block AI bots, you need to carefully weigh the benefits and drawbacks. Will it hinder SEO and affect other optimization efforts on the resource?

What you do with these bots is up to you. Each case will depend on your individual circumstances, content, and company priorities. You may be able to find an option that meets all your needs.

To beat or not to beat - that is the question​

The decision to block or allow AI bots to access your site is not an easy one. It may be helpful to consider the following recommendations:

• Assess specific needs and goals. Before making a decision, carefully assess the needs, goals, and challenges of your site and content. Consider factors such as the type of content, its value, and the potential risks or benefits of allowing or blocking AI bots.
• Explore alternatives. Instead of blocking bots entirely, consider implementing alternative measures that balance content protection and data availability. For example, limiting network traffic, adding deny directives for a specific user agent, or implementing terms of service and API access restrictions can help manage AI bots’ access to your site while still allowing you to use valuable data.
• Regularly review and update your robots.txt file. Review your robots.txt file to ensure it is in line with your current strategy. Regularly evaluate the effectiveness of your organized measures and, if necessary, make adjustments to the file based on key factors.
• Stay up-to-date with industry guidelines, best practices, and legal regulations regarding AI bots and web scraping. Review relevant policies and ensure compliance with applicable laws and regulations.
• Seek professional advice. If you are unsure about the best course of action, consider seeking professional help. SEO or AI experts can help depending on your needs and goals.

There are SEO plugins that make it easier to manage AI bots. They allow you to block bots like GPTBot, CCBot, and Google-Extended with just one click. This feature automatically adds a line to your robots.txt file that prohibits these crawlers and scanners from crawling your site.

The decision to block or allow AI bots to access a site is a complex issue that requires careful consideration.

On the one hand, blocking access can provide benefits such as protecting intellectual property, increasing data security, and optimizing server load. It gives control over content and privacy, and maintains brand integrity.

On the other hand, blocking AI bots may limit the ability to train models, impact the visibility and indexing of a site, and hinder potential collaboration with AI researchers and organizations. This requires a careful balance between content protection and data availability.

It is up to you to evaluate your needs and goals to make an informed decision. Be sure to explore alternative solutions, stay up to date with industry best practices, and consider seeking professional advice if necessary. It is also vital to regularly review and adjust your robots.txt file to reflect changes in strategy or circumstances.