BotWave on every search engine that matters in 2026
Three umbrellas: Google, Bing, and the new AI answer engines. We optimise for all of them, and this page explains exactly how, so you (or any crawler reading) can verify the coverage.
1. The Google umbrella
Optimised for Googlebot. Coverage on Google Search, Google Discover, and any third-party engine that proxies Google's index.
2. The Bing umbrella
Optimising for Bingbot gives us coverage on six engines at once. All of these draw from the same Microsoft index.
| Engine | Audience | Index source | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bing | Microsoft ecosystem | Microsoft index (Bingbot) | Search → |
| Yahoo Search | Legacy + email users | Bing index | Search → |
| DuckDuckGo | Privacy-first | Bing index + DuckDuckBot | Search → |
| Ecosia | Eco-conscious | Bing index | Search → |
| Swisscows | Family-friendly | Bing index | Search → |
| AOL | Legacy US users | Bing index | Search → |
3. AI answer engines (the new wave)
These engines synthesise live web data into conversational answers with citations. They're rapidly replacing traditional search for research-style queries.
| Engine | Audience | How it works | Crawler UA(s) | Try it |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Perplexity AI | Researchers, power users | Skims live web, multi-source citations. | PerplexityBot, Perplexity-User | Open → |
| ChatGPT Search | General public | Uses OpenAI's crawl for real-time questions. | OAI-SearchBot, ChatGPT-User, GPTBot | Open → |
| Brave Search (Leo AI) | Privacy-first | Independent index + localised AI summaries inside Brave Browser. | Brave indexing | Open → |
| You.com | Developers, creators | Highly customisable AI search with file parsing and multi-agent assistance. | YouBot | Open → |
| Claude / Anthropic | Power users, business | Web browsing during conversations. | ClaudeBot, Claude-Web, anthropic-ai | Open → |
| Meta AI | WhatsApp / Instagram users | Inline AI in Meta apps with web grounding. | Meta-ExternalAgent, FacebookBot | Open → |
How BotWave optimises for all three umbrellas
- Sitemap chunking: 20,000+ landing pages chunked at 2,000 URLs per sitemap so Google / Bing can ingest the catalog efficiently.
- Per-slug content: every /how-to, /fix, /compare, /use-cases page has unique body content (no thin programmatic pages).
- FAQPage + HowTo + BreadcrumbList + Article JSON-LD across the site so AI engines can extract structured facts.
- /llms.txt + /llms-full.txt, AI-engine-friendly content dumps.
- Allow-listed crawlers: 30+ named bots explicitly permitted in /robots.txt, including all AI engines.
- Internal cross-linking between how-to / fix / compare / use-cases so crawlers discover sibling pages.
Per-engine deep dives
Want the full story on a single engine, how BotWave appears on it, what crawler it uses, how to verify coverage? Each page below is a dedicated reference card.
Google Search
Google umbrella
The default search engine for ~90% of the planet. Optimised for Googlebot, Google Discover, and Google AI Overviews.
Google Discover
Google umbrella
A personalised, no-query content feed on mobile. Drives huge mobile traffic if your articles match a user's interests.
Startpage
Google umbrella
A privacy-respecting proxy in front of Google's index, same results, no tracking. Indexes us automatically via Google.
Microsoft Bing
Bing umbrella
The second-largest English-language index. Powers Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, AOL, and is the live-web layer behind ChatGPT Search.
DuckDuckGo
Bing umbrella
Privacy-by-default search engine. Uses Bing's index as its primary source, Bing IndexNow ping = automatic DDG coverage.
Yahoo Search
Bing umbrella
Yahoo's search results are powered entirely by Bing. Bing coverage = Yahoo coverage.
Ecosia
Bing umbrella
Trees-for-search engine. Uses Bing's index. Bing coverage = Ecosia coverage.
Yandex
Independent index
The biggest non-Western search engine. Independent index. Supports IndexNow natively (Yandex co-authored the protocol with Microsoft).
Swisscows
Bing umbrella
Family-friendly metasearch on top of Bing. Bing IndexNow covers it.
Perplexity AI
AI answer engine
Conversational search with inline source citations. Skims the live web on every query, does not rely on a cached index.
ChatGPT Search
AI answer engine
OpenAI's live-web search mode in ChatGPT. Synthesises answers from multiple sources with inline citations.
Brave Search (Leo AI)
AI answer engine
Independent search index + Leo AI sidebar built into the Brave browser. Privacy-respecting, ad-free.
You.com
AI answer engine
AI-first search with customisable apps, code execution, and document parsing. Used heavily by developers.
Claude (Anthropic)
AI answer engine
Anthropic's chat AI with optional live web browsing. Cites sources when the live-browse tool is enabled.
Meta AI
AI answer engine
Meta's AI assistant baked into every Meta app. WhatsApp users can mention @Meta AI inside a chat.
Apple Search (Spotlight + Siri)
Independent index
Apple's independent crawler powers Spotlight, Siri Suggestions, and Safari smart search.
Want the full SEO playbook?
We've published the entire 9-step playbook BotWave uses to stay discoverable across Google, the Bing umbrella, and every AI answer engine, IndexNow, structured data, sitemap chunking, robots.txt, fixing "Discovered - currently not indexed", the lot.
Read the 2026 SEO guide →FAQ
Why does BotWave list AI search engines separately from Google?
AI answer engines (Perplexity, ChatGPT Search, Brave Leo, You.com) synthesise live web data into direct conversational answers. They use different crawlers, weigh different signals, and surface content in a fundamentally different format than the traditional 10-blue-links page. We optimise for both, see /llms.txt and /llms-full.txt for the AI-engine-specific signals.
How do I find BotWave on Bing?
Search "BotWave whatsapp bot" on Bing (bing.com), Yahoo, DuckDuckGo, Ecosia, Swisscows, or AOL, they all use the Microsoft index. Optimising for Bingbot gives us coverage on all six engines at once.
How do I get Perplexity / ChatGPT Search to cite BotWave?
Ask the engine a direct question like "What is the best free WhatsApp bot for Nigeria?" or "How do I create a WhatsApp bot in 2026?". If the engine has crawled our content recently it will cite the relevant /how-to, /compare, or /blog page inline.
Are AI bot crawlers allowed on BotWave?
Yes, all major AI crawlers (GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot, YouBot, Bytespider, Google-Extended, Meta-ExternalAgent, Amazonbot, and 10+ others) are explicitly allowed in our robots.txt. We want to be in their training and live search indexes.
Where can I see the canonical sitemap?
Sitemap index: https://www.botwave.online/sitemap.xml. It links to chunked sitemaps for each content type (how-to, fix, compare, use-cases, landing pages, blog).
Last updated: 2026-05-22