On March 23, 2023, OpenAI announced that it is rolling out the Browsing Alpha model of ChatGPT which will enable ChatGPT agents to crawl websites in real-time to read content and answer the query.
This mode will be available in ChatGPT Plus which will cost $20 a month.
In this write-up, we shall learn why we – as webmasters – need to block ChatGPT crawlers from crawling our website and stealing our content. Moreover, we will also learn how we can block ChatGPT from visiting our website, thus saving our content from ChatGPT.
With Browsing Alpha, ChatGPT will browse up-to-date information.
Why should we Block ChatGPT from crawling our Website?
The Browsing Alpha model of ChatGPT will enable it to crawl websites in real-time to find the answers that are not already in its database.
ChatGPT user agent will browse the internet, visit your blog, read the information, and exit. Then it will click the next search result, read the information, and exit.
After reading content from multiple sources and absorbing information, ChatGPT will generate its own answer and present it to the user.
Neither ChatGPT will give us any credit for our efforts as content creators nor will it pay us for using our content.
Therefore, unless webmasters or content creators get any reward, it is their due right to block ChatGPT from accessing or crawling their websites.
Method to block ChatGPT from Accessing our Website and Stealing our Content
As Browsing Alpha Model is threatening to many content creators, the good news is we can block ChatGPT spiders from crawling our website.
This can be done by modifying the robots.txt file and blocking the ChatGPT user agents.
All you need to do is to paste the following two lines at the end of your robots.txt file.
User-agent: ChatGPT-User
Simply copy and paste this code in your Robots.txt file to block ChatGPT user agent from accessing your website.
Disallow: /
Now, if you do not know how to do it, do not worry as we will guide you through.
Modifying Robots.txt to Block ChatGPT User Agent
If your own a WordPress website, follow these simple steps to block ChatGPT in your robots.txt.
- Install Yoast SEO WordPress Plugin. The free version of the plugin will also do the job.
- Now, in your Website Dashboard, head over to Yoast SEO from the menu list.
- Click on Tools.
- Now, click on File Editor.
- Click on the Create robots.txt file option.
- Now, simply copy and paste the above lines into the robots.txt file.
- Click Save changes to robots.txt.
This is how you can block ChatGPT from stealing your website content.
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