Does ChatGPT search use Bing or Google?

OpenAI doesn't name one. It says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers, and that sites blocking OAI-SearchBot won't appear in its answers.

OpenAI's help page says ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers. It rewrites your question into one or more targeted queries and sends them to those providers. It doesn't say which providers they are.

What OpenAI does document is its own search crawler. Its crawler page says OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT's search features, and that sites that opt out of it will not be shown in ChatGPT search answers.

So plan for all three: let OAI-SearchBot in, and make sure your key pages are on both Google and Bing.

Source	What OpenAI says	What to do
Search partners	ChatGPT search sometimes partners with other search providers. They are not named.	Get your key pages indexed on Google and Bing.
OAI-SearchBot	Sites that block it won't be shown in ChatGPT search answers.	Allow it in robots.txt, and allow OpenAI's published IP ranges.
GPTBot	Used for training. Each setting is independent of the others.	Your choice. Blocking it doesn't remove you from search answers.
ChatGPT-User	Visits a page when a person asks ChatGPT to. Not used to crawl the web on its own.	Nothing to set for search.

Test whether AI search crawlers can reach your site

Check my site free

How to check your site

Test your robots.txt and firewall as OAI-SearchBot with our free AI crawler checker. Check Google with Search Console's Page indexing report, and Bing with Bing Webmaster Tools. Then ask ChatGPT, with search on, the questions your customers ask, and note which sites it links.

On paid plans, CrawlCoach tests your firewall as OAI-SearchBot, Claude-SearchBot, and PerplexityBot, and flags any search crawler that robots.txt blocks.

Questions

Is ChatGPT search powered by Bing?

OpenAI's current help pages don't say. They mention search partners without naming them. Be on both Google and Bing, and allow OAI-SearchBot.

Does blocking GPTBot remove me from ChatGPT search?

No. OpenAI says each setting is independent. You can allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in search results and disallow GPTBot to keep your pages out of training.

How do I know if ChatGPT cites my site?

Ask ChatGPT with search on the questions your customers ask, more than once, since answers change between runs. Trackers such as Otterly and Peec do this every day.

Related guides

Sources

Checked on October 25, 2026. Prices and features can change after that date.