Short answer. Ask Claude the questions a customer would, once with web search on and once with it off. With search on, read the citations and note whether your business and website appear. With search off, you see what Claude remembers. Record both, repeat each question three times, and compare with the competitors it names.
Claude has two modes of knowing
Claude answers from memory, or from memory plus a live web search. Anthropic lists June 2026 as the reliable knowledge cut-off for its current models, including Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5 (Anthropic). A business that appeared after that, or that was rarely written about before it, may not be in memory at all. That is why the check has two parts. The reasoning is covered in memory versus live search.
Anthropic's help article says that when a topic benefits from current information, Claude uses a search tool and grounds its response in live web content, and that every response includes citations (Claude Help Center). Its developer documentation says Claude searches for current or changing information, including about "specific organizations, people, or products that might have changed" (Anthropic).
How to turn search on and off
- In the Claude app, the help article says to click the plus button in the lower-left of the chat window, choose Web search, and look for the checkmark. Click it again to turn it off.
- The same article says that under Anthropic's newer experience there is no toggle and "Claude searches the web when it helps." In that case, put "Search the web" in your prompt to ask for a search, or tell Claude not to search.
- On Team or Enterprise plans, an Owner or Primary Owner must enable web search for the workspace first.
- Free accounts can use it, with usage limits that reset every five hours, and search counts toward those limits.
The interface changes often, so check the help article if your screen differs.
How to check, step by step
- Write five to ten real questions. Phrase them as a customer would and leave your business name out: "I need a bookkeeper in Cape Town for a small restaurant. Who should I use?"
- Search on. Ask each question and ask Claude to search the web. A visible search step and source links show it ran.
- Read the citations. Claude's documentation says citations are always enabled for web search. Note which pages it cited, including whether your site is one.
- Search off. Start a new chat, ask the same question, and tell Claude not to search. Whatever it names comes from memory.
- Repeat three times each. The same question can return different names. A SparkToro and Gumshoe.ai study of 2,961 prompts across ChatGPT, Claude and Google's AI features found the same question rarely returned the same list of brands (Search Engine Land).
- Record the result. Per run: named (yes or no), website address given (yes or no), competitors named, sources cited.
- Ask follow-ups. "Which of those has the best reviews?" and "What is their website?" check whether Claude can give your address when pressed.
What the results mean
| Search on | Search off | Reading |
|---|---|---|
| Named | Named | Claude both remembers and can find you |
| Named | Not named | Findable now, not remembered. Normal for newer businesses |
| Not named | Named | Remembered, but current pages are not being found. Check indexing and crawler access |
| Not named | Not named | Neither. Start with the cited pages for your competitors |
If Claude names you but gives no website address, ask it directly for your site. If it gives a wrong address, find the page that carries it.
Which index Claude searches
This is the least settled part. Anthropic has not described Claude's search provider in its documentation. TechCrunch reported on 21 March 2025 that Anthropic added Brave Search to its subprocessor list, and that a test search returned citations identical to Brave's; Anthropic had not replied when the story was published (TechCrunch). A July 2026 analysis by Xponent21 says Brave was still listed, and that a second provider, turbopuffer, was added in May 2026 with a role that is not public (Xponent21). We could not read Anthropic's subprocessor list directly. So: Claude's search is reported to use Brave Search, and you should not assume that is the whole story. The comparison across assistants is in which search engine each AI uses.
A practical consequence: check your business appears when you search for it in Brave Search (search.brave.com), alongside Google and Bing.
Check Anthropic's crawlers are not blocked
Anthropic's support article lists three agents (Anthropic).
| Agent | What it does | If blocked |
|---|---|---|
ClaudeBot | Collects web content that could contribute to training | Your future content is excluded from training |
Claude-SearchBot | Crawls to improve the relevance of search responses | Your content may not be indexed for search, which "may reduce your site's visibility and accuracy in user search results" |
Claude-User | Fetches pages when a Claude user's question needs them | May reduce visibility for user-directed web search |
Open yourdomain.com/robots.txt and make sure Claude-SearchBot and Claude-User are not disallowed by mistake. Blocking ClaudeBot only affects training, which is a separate decision. See what the AI crawlers do.
Making this routine
A hand check is a snapshot. aipozi asks your questions on Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini and Perplexity every morning with live search on and records whether you were named and what was cited. For the whole method, see how to check if AI recommends your business. For the next steps, see entity basics for AI search, and for the sibling checks, ChatGPT.
Frequently asked questions
Does Claude search the web? Yes. Anthropic's help article says Claude uses a search tool and grounds its response in live web content when a topic benefits from current information. Free accounts can use it, with usage limits that reset every five hours.
How do I make Claude search? Anthropic says you can include a phrase such as "Search the web" in your prompt. Depending on your version of the app, there may also be a Web search option under the plus button. On Team and Enterprise plans an owner must enable web search first.
Which search engine does Claude use? Anthropic has not described it in its documentation. TechCrunch reported in March 2025 that Anthropic added Brave Search to its subprocessor list, and a test search returned results matching Brave's. Treat it as reported, not confirmed.
What is Claude's knowledge cut-off? Anthropic lists June 2026 as the reliable knowledge cut-off for Claude Fable 5.1, Opus 5.5, Sonnet 5.5 and Haiku 5.5. Anything newer reaches Claude only through search.
How can I stop Claude's crawlers or let them in? Anthropic uses three user agents. ClaudeBot collects content that may be used for training, Claude-SearchBot supports search, and Claude-User fetches pages when a user's question needs them. Blocking the last two may reduce your visibility in Claude's search answers.
Sources
Every source above was checked on 27 October 2026. Anthropic's Trust Center subprocessor page could not be read directly.