# Methodology for a B2B AI-crawler access benchmark. - working worksheet

Reviewed alongside the Eli guide: https://hireeli.io/resources/research-b2b-ai-crawler-access-benchmark-method

## Decision to make

Benchmark public AI crawler eligibility without inventing crawler activity

Owner: ____________________
Review date: ____________________
Canonical page or destination: ____________________

## Buyer questions

- [ ] How should B2B AI-crawler access be benchmarked?
- [ ] Can robots.txt prove that a crawler visited?
- [ ] Which access failures should be classified?

## Evidence-led work plan

### 1. Define the sample before testing

Select the category, company size, geography and public URLs in advance.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 2. Test three layers

Record robots permission, HTTP or challenge response and content parity with a normal browser.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 3. Verify identity carefully

A user-agent string can be spoofed.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

### 4. Do not overstate the result

Eligibility does not prove discovery, retrieval or citation.

Evidence or artifact: ____________________
Status: [ ] not started  [ ] working  [ ] verified  [ ] blocked

## Source ledger

- [ ] OpenAI: publishers and developers FAQ: https://help.openai.com/en/articles/12627856-publishers-and-developers-faq
- [ ] Perplexity: crawler documentation: https://docs.perplexity.ai/docs/resources/perplexity-crawlers
- [ ] Google Search Central: AI features and your website: https://developers.google.com/search/docs/appearance/ai-features

## Measurement boundary

Baseline date and exact context: ____________________
7-day observation: ____________________
14-day observation: ____________________
30-day observation: ____________________
Known limitations: ____________________

Keep technical eligibility, citations, recommendations, visits, leads and revenue as separate evidence. This worksheet does not guarantee an external ranking or commercial result.