ChatGPT search puts web results inside a chat, so the links, crawlers and ads behind each answer now matter to users, publishers and advertisers alike. ChatGPT search is a web search capability inside ChatGPT, from OpenAI, that answers questions with information from the web and links to the sources; it launched on 31 October 2024 for paying users and became available to everyone where ChatGPT is available, with no sign-up, on 5 February 2025. This page sets out how ChatGPT search is triggered, where its results come from, how it cites sources, what location data it shares, how ads in ChatGPT work, and which OpenAI crawlers publishers can allow or block. It is written for publishers, marketers, privacy teams and everyday users who want facts from OpenAI's own pages rather than commentary.
Last checked: 2026-11-15.
This is an independent reference page from NHI Mgmt Group based on public provider documentation; it is not sponsored or endorsed by any provider.
Key takeaways
- Third-party providers plus partners. OpenAI says search queries derived from prompts may be sent, in disassociated form, to third-party search providers such as Bing, alongside content supplied directly by partners.
- Inline citations and a Sources panel. Answers carry inline citations, and a Sources button lists every cited and related link.
- OAI-SearchBot decides search appearance. Sites that block OAI-SearchBot will not appear in ChatGPT search answers; GPTBot is a separate, training-only setting.
- Ads on Free and Go only. Ad testing began in the US on 9 February 2026; Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu accounts have no ads, and OpenAI states ads do not influence answers.
- General location is shared. ChatGPT uses an IP-based general location and may share it with search providers to improve results.
What is ChatGPT search?
OpenAI's help centre describes ChatGPT search as a way for ChatGPT to search the web and return answers with links to web sources, without moving to a separate search engine. At launch OpenAI said responses would include links to sources such as news articles and blog posts, with visual designs for weather, stocks, sports, news and maps from news and data partners.
| Field | Value (as of 2026-11-15) |
|---|---|
| Provider | OpenAI |
| Earlier form | SearchGPT prototype with a waitlist |
| Launch | 31 October 2024, for ChatGPT Plus, Team and SearchGPT waitlist users; Enterprise and Edu in the following weeks |
| Wider rollout | 16 December 2024 to all logged-in users; 5 February 2025 to everyone, no sign-up required |
| Model at launch | A fine-tuned version of GPT-4o, post-trained with synthetic data including outputs distilled from o1-preview |
| Search sources | Third-party search providers, such as Bing, and content provided directly by partners |
| Where available | chatgpt.com and the ChatGPT desktop and mobile apps; a Chrome extension |
| Usage limits | Search queries count against the plan's usage limits |
| Ads | Yes, on Free and Go plans in selected regions, below responses and labelled |
| Crawler for search | OAI-SearchBot |
OpenAI does not state on the fetched help page which model answers search queries today. Model families are covered on the ChatGPT vs Claude vs Gemini vs Grok (Apps) page.
How do you access ChatGPT search?
The help centre lists these routes:
- Web search icon: select the web search icon in the message box.
- Slash command: type "/" and choose Search from the menu.
- Regenerate: regenerate a response with web search.
- Automatic: ChatGPT may search on its own when it judges the web would help.
- Browser default: with the Chrome extension, ChatGPT search can be set as the default search engine; URL bar queries open a ChatGPT conversation, and typing "!g" before a query sends it to Google instead.
How does ChatGPT search find and cite sources?
- Query writing: ChatGPT turns the prompt into one or more search queries.
- Providers: queries may be sent to third-party search providers, such as Bing, in disassociated form, meaning not linked to the user's account.
- Location: ChatGPT uses the user's IP-based general location and may share it with search providers to improve accuracy.
- Partner content: content provided directly by partners is used alongside provider results.
- Composition: the model writes the answer and attaches citations.
The launch post named news partners including Associated Press, Axel Springer, Condé Nast, Dotdash Meredith, Financial Times, GEDI, Hearst, Le Monde, News Corp, Prisa (El País), Reuters, The Atlantic, Time and Vox Media. For privacy terms OpenAI points to its own Privacy Policy and to Microsoft's privacy policy.
How does ChatGPT search cite sources?
| Element | What OpenAI describes |
|---|---|
| Inline citations | Shown within the response text; on desktop web, hovering shows a preview and clicking opens the source |
| Sources button | At the end of a response, opens a list of all cited and related links |
| Images | Images at the top of a response link to their source pages when clicked |
| Navigational links | Sites that block OAI-SearchBot can still appear as navigational links, though not in search answers |
OpenAI does not publish a ranking formula for which source is cited first.
Which models power ChatGPT search?
OpenAI's 31 October 2024 launch post said search was powered by a fine-tuned version of GPT-4o, post-trained with synthetic data including outputs distilled from OpenAI o1-preview. The ChatGPT search help page does not say which model handles search today; the models a user can pick in ChatGPT depend on the plan.
How much does ChatGPT search cost?
Search has no separate price. It is part of ChatGPT and, since 5 February 2025, has been available without sign-up wherever ChatGPT is available. Paid plans raise usage limits, and search queries count against the limits of whichever plan a user is on. OpenAI priced the Go plan at $8 a month in the US in January 2026; Free and Go users may see ads.
How do ads work in ChatGPT search?
OpenAI set out its advertising principles on 16 January 2026 and began testing ads in the US on 9 February 2026. Its help centre gives the current rules.
| Question | OpenAI's stated position |
|---|---|
| Which plans show ads? | Free and Go, rolling out gradually to eligible users in selected regions |
| Which plans have no ads? | Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu |
| Where do ads appear? | Usually below a response, separate and clearly labelled; a multi-image format is being tested during image generation |
| Do ads change answers? | "Ads do not influence ChatGPT's answers"; advertisers cannot shape, rank or alter responses |
| What do advertisers receive? | Aggregated data such as total views or clicks; conversations are not shared and user data is not sold |
| Who never sees ads? | Accounts identified as under 18, using stated age and, where available, age prediction; Temporary Chats show no ads |
| Sensitive topics | No ads near personal health, mental health or political conversations; political advertising is not allowed |
| Countries | Not listed on the help page, which points to an Ads Manager availability page |
As of 2026-11-15.
- Ad Controls: under Settings, users can turn off ad personalisation, dismiss ads, see why an ad was shown, and clear ads data. Deleted ads data is removed from servers within up to 30 days.
- Without personalisation: ads still use the current chat's context, general location and language.
- With personalisation: ads may also use ad interactions, past chats and memory; personalised ads are not initially available in the EEA or Switzerland. Ad interactions are not saved to memory.
- Removing ads: upgrade to Plus or Pro, or switch a Free account to the Ads-Free option, which lowers message limits and restricts some tools such as image generation and deep research. Go users must switch to Free to use Ads-Free.
- Ad landing pages: OAI-AdsBot visits only pages submitted as ads, to check their safety, and its data is not used for model training.
Rollouts by market across engines are tracked in the Ads in AI Answers Tracker.
What can publishers control?
| User agent | Purpose stated by OpenAI | robots.txt effect | Published IP list |
|---|---|---|---|
| GPTBot | Crawls content that may be used to train generative AI foundation models | Disallowing indicates content should not be used in training | openai.com/gptbot.json |
| OAI-AdsBot | Checks the safety of landing pages submitted as ads | Visits only submitted ad pages | openai.com/adsbot.json |
| OAI-SearchBot | Surfaces websites in ChatGPT search features | Opted-out sites do not appear in search answers, but may show as navigational links | openai.com/searchbot.json |
| ChatGPT-User | User-initiated actions, such as visiting a page a user asks about; not automatic crawling | Because users initiate the action, robots.txt rules may not apply; not used to decide search appearance | openai.com/chatgpt-user.json |
As of 2026-11-15, from OpenAI's crawler documentation; listed alphabetically.
- Independent settings: "Each setting is independent of the others", so a site can allow OAI-SearchBot for search while disallowing GPTBot for training.
- Shared crawl: if both bots are allowed, OpenAI may use one crawl's results for both purposes.
- Timing: it can take about 24 hours after a robots.txt change for search systems to adjust.
- Firewalls: OpenAI recommends allowing OAI-SearchBot and requests from its published IP ranges, so bot-management rules should match the IP list rather than the user-agent string alone.
Cross-engine options are explained in the AI Crawler and Scraper Controls guide and compared in the AI Crawler and Grounding Controls Tracker.
What privacy controls exist?
OpenAI's search help page says search queries may be shared with third-party search providers such as Bing in disassociated form, and that general location derived from the IP address may be shared with them to improve results. Ad Controls in Settings let Free and Go users turn off ad personalisation and clear ads data, described in the ads section above. Training and retention follow the user's ChatGPT plan and data controls, which the Safe Use of AI Chatbots Guide covers.
When was ChatGPT search released, and how has it changed?
| Date | Milestone |
|---|---|
| 31 October 2024 | Launch for Plus, Team and SearchGPT waitlist users; Chrome extension; fine-tuned GPT-4o |
| 16 December 2024 | Available to all logged-in users where ChatGPT is available |
| 5 February 2025 | Available to everyone where ChatGPT is available, no sign-up required |
| 16 January 2026 | OpenAI publishes its approach to advertising; Go plan priced at $8 a month in the US |
| 9 February 2026 | Ad testing starts in the US for Free and Go users |
As of 2026-11-15. At launch OpenAI listed planned work on shopping, travel, deeper research with reasoning models, and search in Advanced Voice and canvas.
What are ChatGPT search's limitations?
- Answers can be wrong: open the cited source for anything legal, medical, financial or security related.
- Location shapes results: results reflect the general IP-based location shared with providers.
- Usage limits apply: search queries count toward the plan's limits, and the Ads-Free Free option has lower message limits.
- Features vary by plan and region: ads, ad personalisation and some tools differ between Free, Go and paid plans and between regions.
Common questions about the service
Is ChatGPT search free?
Yes. Since 5 February 2025 search has been available to everyone where ChatGPT is available, without sign-up. Free and Go users may see ads; paid Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise and Edu plans are ad-free.
Does ChatGPT search use Bing?
OpenAI names Bing as an example of the third-party search providers that may receive disassociated queries. It does not state that Bing is the only provider, and partner content is also used.
Where identity and security fit
Search prompts can reveal what staff are working on, and queries are passed to third-party providers with general location. Organisations should decide whether work searches run in consumer accounts or managed workspaces: see the ChatGPT Enterprise Security Guide, the ChatGPT Work Security guide and Blocking Personal ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini Accounts at Work. Ad personalisation that draws on memory and past chats is another reason to keep work activity in managed, ad-free plans.
Practitioner checklist
- Decide per crawler: allow OAI-SearchBot to appear in ChatGPT search, and set GPTBot separately for training.
- Allow OpenAI's published IP ranges in CDN and bot-management rules, not just the user-agent string.
- Allow about 24 hours after a robots.txt change before testing search appearance.
- Keep key pages crawlable and in text so search providers can index them.
- For work use, require managed ChatGPT plans and block personal accounts where policy demands it.
- Review Ad Controls on any Free or Go account used for testing, and clear ads data where needed.
- Recheck ad markets, plan rules and crawler names on OpenAI's pages before decisions; they change often.
Standards and references
- OpenAI Help Center: ChatGPT search
- OpenAI: Overview of OpenAI crawlers
- OpenAI Help Center: Ads in ChatGPT
- OpenAI: Introducing ChatGPT search
- OpenAI: Our approach to advertising and expanding access to ChatGPT
Related NHI Mgmt Group resources: AI Answer Engines Hub · Safe Use of AI Chatbots Guide · What Is Answer Engine Optimisation (AEO)? Definition, Signals and Measurement · AI Search Citation Reporting Tracker