Does express.co.uk block AI crawlers?
Blocks AI training and AI answers
express.co.uk blocks both AI training crawlers and AI answer crawlers in its robots.txt.
Checked from express.co.uk/robots.txt. Robots rules change; the live file is the source of truth.
- AI crawlers blocked
- 6 of 12
- AI bots named in robots.txt
- 7
- llms.txt
- Not found
- Popularity
- Tranco top 5,000 (#2,567)
Can AI assistants cite express.co.uk?
- ChatGPT search: its search crawler is blocked
- Claude: its search crawlers may read the site
- Perplexity: its search crawler is blocked
express.co.uk opts out of AI training by OpenAI, Anthropic, Apple, Common Crawl. Training crawlers and answer crawlers are separate: blocking training doesn't by itself remove a site from AI answers.
AI crawler access, bot by bot
| Crawler | Used for | Status on express.co.uk |
|---|---|---|
| GPTBotOpenAI | AI training | Blocked |
| OAI-SearchBotOpenAI | AI answers | Blocked |
| ChatGPT-UserOpenAI | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| ClaudeBotAnthropic | AI training | Blocked |
| Claude-SearchBotAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| Claude-UserAnthropic | AI answers | Some paths restricted |
| PerplexityBotPerplexity | AI answers | Blocked |
| Google-ExtendedGoogle | AI training | Some paths restricted |
| Applebot-ExtendedApple | AI training | Blocked |
| CCBotCommon Crawl | AI training | Blocked |
| BytespiderByteDance | AI training | Some paths restricted |
| Meta-ExternalAgentMeta | AI training | Some paths restricted |
How express.co.uk compares
- 19% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block GPTBot; express.co.uk is one of them.
- 18% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block ClaudeBot; express.co.uk is one of them.
- 14% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block PerplexityBot; express.co.uk is one of them.
- Among 195 sites of similar popularity, 22% block at least one AI crawler.
The robots.txt rules that apply to AI crawlers
User-agent: * Disallow: /myexpress/ Disallow: /printer/ Disallow: /users/ Disallow: /sponsored/ Disallow: /trackings/ Disallow: /34722903/ Disallow: /search?* Disallow: /videos/get_video_by_uid/ Disallow: /videos/viewmeta/ User-agent: GPTBot Disallow: / User-agent: OAI-SearchBot Disallow: / User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: / User-agent: PerplexityBot Disallow: / User-agent: CCBot Disallow: / User-agent: ClaudeBot Disallow: / User-agent: anthropic-ai Disallow: /
Excerpt: only groups for all user-agents (*) or named AI crawlers, up to 40 rules per group.
Sites with a similar AI policy
Does express.co.uk block GPTBot?
Yes. As of Oct 2, 2026, express.co.uk's robots.txt disallows GPTBot, OpenAI's training crawler.
Can ChatGPT search show results from express.co.uk?
Its robots.txt blocks a ChatGPT search crawler, so ChatGPT search is unlikely to read or cite those pages.
Does express.co.uk have an llms.txt file?
We didn't find a valid llms.txt at express.co.uk/llms.txt when we checked.
Data: express.co.uk's public robots.txt and llms.txt, fetched by AskableHQ. Popularity rank from the Tranco list (ID Y83YG). Methodology.