**Q: How do I let ChatGPT and other AI engines read and cite my site?**
⚠️ Before you start: back up your site first.
What this fixes: AI answer engines may be blocked from reading your site, so they can’t cite you.
Steps:
1. Open your robots.txt by visiting yoursite.com/robots.txt. Edit it via your SEO plugin (Rank Math or Yoast) or your hosting file manager.
2. Remove any “Disallow” lines that block AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, Google-Extended, and others). SEO Doctor tells you the exact lines.
3. Check for a hidden server-level block — some servers block crawlers by name in a config file. If that applies, hand it to SEO Doctor or your developer.
4. Add the llms.txt file SEO Doctor generated for your site (included in your report below) at your site root: yoursite.com/llms.txt.
5. Save/upload, then visit /robots.txt and /llms.txt in a browser and confirm both load correctly.
Tools you may need (free):
– Your SEO plugin’s robots.txt editor (Rank Math / Yoast).
– Your hosting file manager (Cloudways or cPanel) — to add llms.txt at the root.
Common mistakes to avoid:
– Editing robots.txt but missing a deeper server-level block.
– Placing llms.txt in a subfolder instead of the site root.
When to call SEO Doctor:
– A server-level block is involved.
– You’re unsure which crawlers to allow.