Does zdnet.com allow GPTBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
On 2026-09-14 the robots.txt of zdnet.com resolved 19 AI crawler tokens: 3 allowed for / and 16 disallowed for /.
| Domain | zdnet.com |
|---|---|
| AI crawler tokens resolved | 19 |
| Allowed for / | 3 |
| Disallowed for / | 16 |
| robots.txt | robots.txt present, 5722 bytes |
| Checks that ran | robots |
| robots.txt read (tier A) | 2026-09-14 |
| Last verified |
On this domain the robots.txt only check (tier A) last ran on 2026-09-14. The full check adds the home page, the labelled edge probes, llms.txt, the headers and the structured data; the robots.txt check is the one that runs weekly for every seeded domain.
One question per crawler
- GPTBot
- ClaudeBot
- PerplexityBot
- OAI-SearchBot
- CCBot
- Bytespider
- Googlebot
- ChatGPT-User
- Google-Extended
Does zdnet.com allow GPTBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: GPTBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow GPTBot
User-agent: GPTBot Allow: /
User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: /
The GPTBot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow ClaudeBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: ClaudeBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow ClaudeBot
User-agent: ClaudeBot Allow: /
User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: /
The ClaudeBot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow PerplexityBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: PerplexityBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow PerplexityBot
User-agent: PerplexityBot Allow: /
User-agent: PerplexityBot Disallow: /
The PerplexityBot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow OAI-SearchBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: OAI-SearchBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow OAI-SearchBot
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Allow: /
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: /
The OAI-SearchBot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow CCBot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: CCBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow CCBot
User-agent: CCBot Allow: /
User-agent: CCBot Disallow: /
The CCBot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow Bytespider? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Bytespider group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow Bytespider
User-agent: Bytespider Allow: /
User-agent: Bytespider Disallow: /
The Bytespider guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow Googlebot? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
allowed for /
robots.txt has a User-agent: * group with no rule matching / , so / is allowed
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow Googlebot
User-agent: Googlebot Allow: /
User-agent: Googlebot Disallow: /
The Googlebot guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow ChatGPT-User? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
disallowed for /
robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: ChatGPT-User group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins)
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow ChatGPT-User
User-agent: ChatGPT-User Allow: /
User-agent: ChatGPT-User Disallow: /
The ChatGPT-User guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Does zdnet.com allow Google-Extended? robots.txt as of 2026-09-14
allowed for /
robots.txt has a User-agent: * group with no rule matching / , so / is allowed
Observed 2026-09-14, first observed 2026-09-14, last change recorded 2026-09-14.
Allow or disallow Google-Extended
User-agent: Google-Extended Allow: /
User-agent: Google-Extended Disallow: /
The Google-Extended guide: identity, purpose, documented verification and the vendor sources.
Every crawler token in the registry
| Crawler | Vendor | Observation | Evidence | Observed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | OpenAI | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: GPTBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| ClaudeBot | Anthropic | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: ClaudeBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| PerplexityBot | Perplexity | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: PerplexityBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| OAI-SearchBot | OpenAI | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: OAI-SearchBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| CCBot | Common Crawl Foundation | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: CCBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Bytespider | ByteDance | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Bytespider group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Googlebot | allowed for / | robots.txt has a User-agent: * group with no rule matching / , so / is allowed | 2026-09-14 | |
| ChatGPT-User | OpenAI | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: ChatGPT-User group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Claude-User | Anthropic | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Claude-User group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Claude-SearchBot | Anthropic | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Claude-SearchBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Perplexity-User | Perplexity | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Perplexity-User group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| anthropic-ai | Anthropic | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: anthropic-ai group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Bingbot | Microsoft | allowed for / | robots.txt has a User-agent: * group with no rule matching / , so / is allowed | 2026-09-14 |
| Applebot | Apple | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Applebot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Amazonbot | Amazon | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Amazonbot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| meta-externalagent | Meta | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: meta-externalagent group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| DuckAssistBot | DuckDuckGo | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: DuckAssistBot group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Applebot-Extended | Apple | disallowed for / | robots.txt line 161 in the User-agent: Applebot-Extended group: "Disallow: /" (longest match wins) | 2026-09-14 |
| Google-Extended | allowed for / | robots.txt has a User-agent: * group with no rule matching / , so / is allowed | 2026-09-14 |
What else the robots.txt says
| agents-summary | AI crawler rules: 3 allowed, 16 disallowed 19 crawler tokens resolved against https://zdnet.com/robots.txt (HTTP 200, 5722 bytes) at 2026-09-14T06:15:34Z |
|---|---|
| file | robots.txt present, 5722 bytes GET https://zdnet.com/robots.txt at 2026-09-14T06:15:34Z returned HTTP 200, 5722 bytes, content type text/plain, 4 user agent group(s) |
| sitemap-declared | 11 sitemap(s) declared in robots.txt line 177: "Sitemap: https://www.zdnet.com/sitemap-authors.xml"; line 179: "Sitemap: https://www.zdnet.com/sitemap-google-news.xml"; line 181: "Sitemap: https://www.zdnet.com/sitemaps/articles/index.xml" |
History
Every robots.txt version we have observed for zdnet.com.
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Limitation: this test appends a labelled marker to our own honest User Agent, it never impersonates another agent. Rules keyed to an exact User Agent string, or to a vendor's IP ranges, are invisible to this method and are neither confirmed nor ruled out.
AEO Watch is an independent, factual monitor. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or speaking for any crawler vendor. Every statement is an observation with the date it was made and the raw evidence behind it: a robots.txt line, an HTTP status code, a header. There are no scores, no grades and no verdicts here, and nothing on this page is advice. A site opts out at any time and the opt out is honoured automatically and permanently.