SEOs Need Deliberate AI Bot Policies, Not Just Block Lists

Search Engine Journal argues that blocking an AI training crawler is not the same as blocking a retrieval bot, so a simple block list can produce unintended visibility trade-offs. The piece advises SEOs to set deliberate bot policies that distinguish between crawler types and their purposes.

Why it matters: Marketers who block AI bots by default may be cutting off the retrieval systems that drive visibility in AI-generated answers, so they need to decide bot by bot.