Does sohu.com block AI crawlers?

Can AI assistants cite sohu.com?

• ChatGPT search: its search crawler is blocked
• Claude: its search crawler is blocked
• Perplexity: its search crawler is blocked

sohu.com opts out of AI training by OpenAI, Anthropic, Google, Apple, Common Crawl, Meta. 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

How sohu.com compares

• 19% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block GPTBot; sohu.com is one of them.
• 18% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block ClaudeBot; sohu.com is one of them.
• 14% of the 1,278 popular sites we checked block PerplexityBot; sohu.com is one of them.
• Among 213 sites of similar popularity, 29% block at least one AI crawler.

The robots.txt rules that apply to AI crawlers

User-agent: Bytespider
User-agent: ToutiaoSpider
Allow: /a/*?*
Allow: /abroad_a/*?*
Allow: /picture/*?*
Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/*?*
Allow: /collection/*?*
Allow: /ab_a/*?*
Allow: /classic*?*
Allow: /?*$
Allow: /new*?*
Allow: /business*?*
Allow: /it*?*
Allow: /fashion*?*
Allow: /learning*?*
Allow: /health*?*
Allow: /yule*?*
Allow: /mt*?*
Allow: /travel*?*
Allow: /baobao*?*
Allow: /chihe*?*
Allow: /cul*?*
Allow: /history*?*
Allow: /gov*?*
Allow: /gongyi*?*
Allow: /police*?*
Allow: /mil*?*
Allow: /acg*?*
Allow: /astro*?*
Allow: /game*?*
Allow: /pets*?*
Allow: /sports*?*
Allow: /subject/*?*
Allow: /integration-api/*?*
Allow: /public-api/*?*
Allow: /xtopic/*?*
Allow: /xchannel/*?*
Allow: /kindfeed/*?*
Allow: /kindlist/*?*
Allow: /sitemap/*?*
Disallow: /*?*

User-agent: GPTBot
User-agent: OAI-SearchBot
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
User-agent: ClaudeBot
User-agent: Claude-SearchBot
User-agent: Claude-User
User-agent: Claude-Web
User-agent: anthropic-ai
User-agent: Google-Extended
User-agent: Google-Agent
User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot
User-agent: Gemini-Deep-Research
User-agent: PerplexityBot
User-agent: Perplexity-User
User-agent: DeepSeekBot
User-agent: CCBot
User-agent: Meta-ExternalAgent
User-agent: Meta-ExternalFetcher
User-agent: FacebookBot
User-agent: Applebot
User-agent: Applebot-Extended
User-agent: Amazonbot
User-agent: DuckAssistBot
User-agent: MistralAI-User
User-agent: YouBot
User-agent: cohere-ai
User-agent: Diffbot
User-agent: omgili
User-agent: FacebookExternalHit
User-agent: xAI-Bot
User-agent: AddSearchBot
User-agent: bigsur.ai
User-agent: FirecrawlAgent
Allow: /a/
Allow: /abroad_a/
Allow: /picture/
Allow: /*_a(/qihoo_a)/
Allow: /collection/
Allow: /ab_a/
Allow: /classic
Allow: /limit/
Allow: /$
Allow: /?*$
Allow: /new
Allow: /business
Allow: /it
Allow: /fashion
Allow: /learning
Allow: /health
Allow: /yule
Allow: /mt
Allow: /travel
Allow: /baobao
Allow: /chihe
Allow: /cul
Allow: /history
Allow: /gov
Allow: /gongyi
Allow: /police
Allow: /mil
Allow: /acg
Allow: /astro
Allow: /game
Allow: /pets
Allow: /sports
Allow: /subject/
Allow: /xtopic/
Allow: /xchannel/
Allow: /kindfeed/
Allow: /kindlist/
Allow: /sitemap/
Disallow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Excerpt: only groups for all user-agents (*) or named AI crawlers, up to 40 rules per group.

Sites with a similar AI policy

• statista.com · 8 blocked
• quora.com · 11 blocked
• cnbc.com · 11 blocked
• claude.ai · 4 blocked
• ft.com · 7 blocked
• wired.com · 9 blocked
• unsplash.com · 3 blocked
• uol.com.br · 9 blocked

All sites that are “blocks ai training and ai answers” →