Diagnose AI crawler access

Use this diagnostic workflow when a public page is missing from a crawl, a checker cannot read the site, or source discovery appears inconsistent. Access has several layers: DNS and HTTPS, the HTTP response, robots.txt rules, firewall behavior, and the content served without a signed-in session. Passing one layer does not prove the others work.

RankVyze's free crawler checker and server-visible content tool inspect public responses. They help identify a blocked request, a rule aimed at a particular crawler, or a page whose useful text is unavailable in the returned HTML. These observations are technical evidence; they do not certify that every crawler can access every path or that an engine will cite the site.

Begin with one representative URL and record its status, redirect destination, canonical link, and robots directives. Compare the browser page with the HTML response. If a firewall challenge appears, investigate its rule and relevant server logs rather than broadly disabling protection. Review search and training crawler controls independently so a training preference does not accidentally block search discovery.

After a fix, retest the same URL and a few other page types. Check sitemap entries and internal links for the preferred address. Keep before-and-after responses with the issue record, then return to content work only when the technical access problem has a concrete explanation.