How to Show Up in Claude Search (2026)
We rank Claude-SearchBot access first. Claude-User honors robots.txt. ClaudeBot is training. IP blocks can stop the bot from reading robots.txt. Then a prompt log.
In our directory, "Claude SEO" packages rank below a robots.txt that names the right agents. Anthropic already split them. Official help.
Show up means the stored Claude answer cites a URL you control, after SearchBot was allowed to index. A name without a link is a mention. Wrong KPI.
Rank 0: three user-agents
Claude-SearchBot: indexing for search quality. Disable it and Anthropic says they cannot index you for search optimization, which may reduce visibility and accuracy in user search results. This is the lever for this title.
Claude-User: live fetch when a person asks. Disable it and they cannot retrieve the page for that query, which may reduce visibility for user-directed web search. Unlike ChatGPT-User, Anthropic says these bots honor robots.txt. Crawl-delay is supported (their example is Crawl-delay: 1 on ClaudeBot).
ClaudeBot: training. Restrict it and future materials should be excluded from training datasets. Independent of SearchBot. A WAF that only matches "Claude" as one string is how teams block Search while thinking they blocked training.
Repeat the directives on every subdomain. Anthropic says that out loud.
Rank 0.5: stop IP-blocking as an opt-out
They say blocking IPs may not work correctly or persistently, because it can stop the crawler from reading robots.txt. Opt out in robots.txt. Report issues to claudebot@anthropic.com from a domain mailbox. They will not bypass CAPTCHAs. A challenge wall is a hide, not a ranking tactic.
Rank 1: software after the allow
Promptwatch first in the rankings: Claude on paid UI checks and page-level citations on Essential at $95/mo. ClaudeBot appears in Agent Analytics on Professional at $245/mo or an agency plan. Explore skips Claude (ChatGPT only). Daily paid checks, not instant alerts.
Otterly $29: mentions. Profound Starter: ChatGPT-only. Peec AI last.
Google's optimization guide is homework on unique pages. Not Claude's algorithm. No llms.txt requirement on Anthropic's help page.
Ranked checklist
User-agent: Claude-SearchBotallowed on money host and www.Claude-Userallowed if live fetches should work.ClaudeBotdecided with legal, separately.- Public HTML, claim in text.
- Two weeks of frozen prompts on a paid plan. Cited URL column.
- If never cited, read robots first. On Professional or an agency plan, check logs before you rewrite.
Show up is a stored answer plus an allow-list you can screenshot. Anthropic wrote the allow-list. The tracker stores the answer.
Repeat SearchBot and User on www and the apex, plus any app subdomain that should appear. A robots.txt only on the marketing host leaves the docs host as Disallow-by-accident. Crawl-delay is their rate hint (Crawl-delay: 1 on ClaudeBot in the example). Not a ranking factor. They will not bypass CAPTCHAs. A challenge wall is a hide.
Mail claudebot@anthropic.com from a domain mailbox if you think the bot is malfunctioning. Do not IP-block as the opt-out. They said that can stop robots.txt from being read.
Named without a source URL is a mention. Freeze prompts two weeks on Essential or above. Explore will not run Claude. If SearchBot is Disallow, you opted out. Paid checks are daily. Otterly $29 will not replace robots.txt. Profound Starter is ChatGPT-only. Wrong engine. Product: promptwatch.com.