Engine guide: DeepSeek

How to get cited by DeepSeek

DeepSeek is the hardest assistant here to optimise for, because its maker documents almost nothing about retrieval.

The short answer

DeepSeek's chat app can search the web when a user turns search on. I found no first-party crawler page or publisher guidance. A third-party directory lists a DeepSeekBot token with no verification method. The practical route is indirect: be indexed well across major engines, write plain self-contained answers and test the app with search on.

What ranked on 26 September 2026: Results are thin and speculative. No primary DeepSeek documentation on web retrieval ranks, because none seems to exist in the form other vendors publish.

Last reviewed 19 October 2026 · 2 sources

What is specific to DeepSeek

The model is widely used, including in third-party apps and self-hosted deployments, many with no web access.

Search is a user toggle, so most answers may come from training data
Third-party products running its models add their own retrieval, or none
A directory lists DeepSeekBot and says it publishes no verification method
Training data has a cutoff, so ungrounded answers about you may be dated
Check server logs before relying on any token

Claim and reality

Things that sound right and are not.

Flip a card for what is actually true.

Claim
There must be a DeepSeek bot to allow.
Claim
DeepSeek answers the same everywhere.
Claim
Its answer about us is dated, so we should ignore it.

Where to start

In order. Tick as you go, or copy the list.

0 of 5 done

Run core prompts in the official app with search off, then on. Compare the answers.
Note which domains appear in the list of pages read.
Make sure the site is indexed in Google and Bing and loads fast from Asia.
Keep a short factual about page that states what you do.
If Asian markets matter, check whether an accurate Chinese-language description of you exists.

Questions

Asked most.

Does DeepSeek respect robots.txt?

I found no first-party statement. A directory expects it to, which is not confirmation.

Should we block DeepSeek?

You cannot do it precisely without a verified agent. Decide on the documented crawlers of other providers and revisit if DeepSeek publishes guidance.

Is it worth the effort?

Direct effort is limited. Indexability and clarity work for other engines already covers most of it.

Evidence, labelled

What is confirmed, what is reported, what is a hunch.

Each claim is labelled and sourced. Google rows speak only for Google.

Last reviewed 19 October 2026 · 2 sources

Hypothesis: Plausible and common advice. No controlled public evidence.

DeepSeek publishes a crawler and publisher guidance.
Hypothesis
I found none. A third-party directory lists DeepSeekBot, expects robots.txt compliance and notes no verification method.
Known Agents, DeepSeek (opens in a new tab)
Indexability work carries over from other engines.
Hypothesis
Reasonable, since every engine reviewed needs fetchable text pages. Not tested on DeepSeek.
Google, AI features (opens in a new tab)
Search-off answers carry no links.
Hypothesis
Generally true of assistants without grounding. Confirm in the app with search off and on.
No public source

Sources, fetched 19 October 2026

01DeepSeekBot agent profile (opens in a new tab)Known Agents (third-party directory) · No date shown
02AI features and your website (opens in a new tab)Google Search Central · Updated 10 Dec 2025

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