The Rise of AI-Powered Discovery
In 2026, over 40% of knowledge workers use AI agents as their primary research tool. When someone asks ChatGPT a question, the model draws from its training data and, increasingly, from real-time web crawling to formulate answers.
Understanding how these agents interact with your content is the first step to being cited.
How Different AI Agents Work
ChatGPT (OpenAI)
- Uses the GPTBot user agent for crawling
- Prioritizes well-structured content with clear headings
- Favors pages with specific, verifiable data points
- Respects robots.txt directives
Perplexity AI
- Uses the PerplexityBot user agent
- Performs real-time web searches for every query
- Strongly favors content with citations and sources
- Prefers pages that load fast and have clean HTML
Claude (Anthropic)
- Uses the ClaudeBot user agent
- Values nuanced, well-reasoned content
- Appreciates structured data and semantic markup
- Respects content boundaries and attribution
Google AI Overviews
- Integrated with Google's search index
- Uses existing Googlebot crawl data
- Generates AI summaries at the top of search results
- Favors authoritative, well-structured content
What AI Agents Look For
1. Clean Structure
AI agents parse your HTML into a document tree. Clear heading hierarchy (H1 > H2 > H3) helps them understand content organization.2. Semantic Markup
Schema.org markup, proper HTML5 elements, and YAML frontmatter provide machine-readable context that AI agents use to understand your content.3. Specific Data
Statements like "Revenue grew 47% in Q3 2025" are far more likely to be cited than vague claims like "Revenue grew significantly."4. Markdown Endpoints
A dedicated markdown endpoint (like BonjourAgent provides) gives AI agents a clean, token-efficient version of your content without HTML clutter.The User-Agent Landscape
Here are the most common AI agent user-agent strings to watch for:
| Agent | User-Agent Pattern |
|---|---|
| ChatGPT | GPTBot |
| Perplexity | PerplexityBot |
| Claude | ClaudeBot |
| Google AI | Googlebot |
| Bing Copilot | bingbot |
| Meta AI | FacebookBot |
Optimizing for AI Agents
The key insight is that AI agents prefer structured, data-rich, compact content over long-form fluff. Every paragraph should earn its place by providing specific, citable information.
BonjourAgent automates this process by analyzing your content through the lens of AI agents, converting it to optimized markdown, and serving it through a dedicated endpoint that AI crawlers can easily consume.
Analyze your site now