---
title: "Fix: Bing AI Grounding Blocked (ai-grounding:disallow)"
description: "A page with ai-grounding:disallow, noarchive or nocache can drop out of Bing and Copilot AI answers. Find the directive, fix it and verify with Bing tools."
url: https://seenlens.com/fixes/bing-ai-grounding-blocked
last_updated: 2026-11-06
---

# Bing AI grounding blocked: how to fix ai-grounding:disallow

Bing and Microsoft Copilot can leave a page out of AI answers when the page carries the directive `ai-grounding:disallow`. SeenLens fails the check in that case. It warns on `noarchive` or `nocache`, which Bing has used to limit AI answers and which stop counting after 2027-03-01. Remove the directive from the meta tag and the header on pages you want cited.

By SeenLens. Last updated: 2026-11-06

## What this check tests

The check is called AI training and grounding preferences. It belongs to the AI crawler access dimension and exists since rules version 0.3.3 (2026-11-06). SeenLens reads three places on the page you scan:

- The `<meta name="robots">` tag and the `<meta name="bingbot">` tag. The tag name is matched without regard to case.
- The `X-Robots-Tag` response header. A directive with a crawler prefix counts only when the prefix is `bingbot`, for example `X-Robots-Tag: bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow`. A directive with another prefix, such as `googlebot:`, is ignored.
- The robots.txt group named exactly `User-agent: __usage_ai-training`. The `*` group is not used for this token.

| Status | Trigger | Issue title |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Fail | `ai-grounding:disallow` is present | Page opts out of Bing and Copilot AI answers |
| Warn | `noarchive` or `nocache` is present and `ai-grounding:disallow` is not | noarchive or nocache limits Bing AI answers |
| Info | `ai-grounding:disallowextended` is present | AI grounding is limited to Microsoft products |
| Pass | None of the above | No issue |

A training opt-out alone passes. This covers `ai-training:disallow` on the page and `Disallow` in a `__usage_ai-training` robots.txt group. A training opt-out does not affect AI answers, and the evidence line of the check mentions it.

## Why does SeenLens warn on noarchive and nocache?

Microsoft announced two separate AI preferences on 2026-10-30: AI Training and AI Grounding. Grounding means using content as input to help inform AI generated responses in Bing, Copilot and partner integrations. Until the new rules apply, Bing has used `noarchive` and `nocache` to limit use of content in its AI answers and training. Many sites set these tags for other reasons, so the check warns and does not fail.

| Date | What happens |
| --- | --- |
| 2026-10-30 | Microsoft announces the preferences. Nothing changes that day. |
| 2026-12-15 | Temporary grounding transition preferences open in Bing Webmaster Tools, for sites that use NoArchive or NoCache. |
| 2027-02-01 | Microsoft starts to honor AI Training and AI Grounding preferences as pages are recrawled. |
| 2027-03-01 | After this date NoArchive and NoCache are no longer honored as training or grounding preferences. |
| 2027-09-30 | Temporary preferences expire, or at recrawl, whichever is earlier. |

A site that uses `noarchive` or `nocache` to keep content out of AI answers must publish the new preferences before 2027-03-01. Bing Webmaster Tools has no temporary training setting.

## How to confirm the problem

```text
curl -s https://example.com/your-page | grep -i -o '<meta[^>]*name="\(robots\|bingbot\)"[^>]*>'
curl -sI https://example.com/your-page | grep -i x-robots-tag
curl -s https://example.com/robots.txt | grep -i -A3 "__usage_ai-training"
```

A line with `ai-grounding:disallow` explains the fail. A line with `noarchive` or `nocache` explains the warning. A `Disallow` under `__usage_ai-training` is a training opt-out and does not fail the check.

## How to fix it

Remove the directive where it is added. Typical sources are an SEO plugin, a theme, a server header copied from another project, and a CDN rule. Keep `ai-training:disallow` if you only want to opt out of training.

```text
<!-- Fail: the page opts out of Bing and Copilot AI answers -->
<meta name="bingbot" content="ai-grounding:disallow">

<!-- Fixed: no AI grounding restriction (Allow is the default) -->
<meta name="robots" content="index, follow">

<!-- Training opt-out only: this passes -->
<meta name="bingbot" content="ai-training:disallow">
```

Remove the same directive from the response header. If the header comes from your server, delete the line that sets it:

```text
# Nginx: delete this line
add_header X-Robots-Tag "Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow";

# Apache: delete this line
Header set X-Robots-Tag "Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow"
```

In Next.js, remove the entry from the `headers()` function in `next.config.js`. On Vercel, remove it from the `headers` array in `vercel.json`:

```text
// next.config.js: remove this entry
{
  source: "/(.*)",
  headers: [{ key: "X-Robots-Tag", value: "Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow" }],
}

// vercel.json: remove this entry
{
  "headers": [
    { "source": "/(.*)", "headers": [{ "key": "X-Robots-Tag", "value": "Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow" }] }
  ]
}
```

Replace `noarchive` and `nocache` only if you want to keep content out of AI answers. In that case publish `ai-grounding:disallow` or `ai-grounding:disallowextended` instead, as the next section shows. Google Search Central says Google ignores `noarchive`, so removing it does not change Google behavior.

### Set a preference on purpose

AI Grounding works at page level only. You cannot set it in robots.txt. `DisallowExtended` limits grounding to Microsoft operated experiences and excludes partner use, such as grounding API access in Microsoft Foundry and Web IQ. `Disallow` means the content cannot be used to help inform generated responses. Limiting grounding does not change eligibility for Bing search results.

```text
X-Robots-Tag: Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallowextended
X-Robots-Tag: Bingbot: ai-grounding:disallow
```

AI Training can also be set in robots.txt for a site or path with the shared token. A page level preference overrides the robots.txt preference for that page. An Allow does not override a robots.txt rule that blocks Bingbot from crawling.

```text
User-agent: __usage_ai-training
Disallow: /example-path/
```

Google says it intends to support the `__usage_ai-training` token in early 2027 and to treat an opt-out as a Google-Extended disallow; today Google reads Google-Extended. The [guide to Bing AI grounding and training](https://seenlens.com/guides/bing-ai-grounding-and-training) compares both preferences.

## How to verify the fix

1. Run the curl commands again. Neither the meta tags nor the header should show `ai-grounding:disallow`, `noarchive` or `nocache`.
2. Open Bing Webmaster Tools, choose URL Inspection, enter the page URL and run the Live URL test. Confirm that Bing can fetch the live page.
3. Run the SeenLens scan and confirm that the AI training and grounding preferences check passes.
4. Wait for Bing to recrawl the page. Microsoft says it applies the preferences as pages are recrawled.

[Scan your page with SeenLens](https://seenlens.com/)

## When can you ignore it?

Keep the directive on a page you deliberately keep out of AI answers, such as a paywalled preview or licensed content. The trade-off is that Copilot will not cite that page in its answers. Use `ai-grounding:disallowextended` if Microsoft products are acceptable and partner use is not.

## Related checks

- [Bing AI grounding and AI training: how to set each](https://seenlens.com/guides/bing-ai-grounding-and-training)
- [nosnippet and noindex blocking AI Overviews](https://seenlens.com/fixes/noindex-blocks-ai-answers)
- [robots.txt blocks AI crawlers](https://seenlens.com/fixes/robots-txt-blocks-ai-crawlers)
- [Add Content Signals to robots.txt](https://seenlens.com/fixes/add-content-signals)
- [Bingbot](https://seenlens.com/bots/bingbot)

## Sources

- [Bing Webmaster Tools help: New AI Preferences](https://www.bing.com/webmasters/help/new-ai-preferences-2t1cc16d) (AI Training and AI Grounding options, syntax, precedence, timeline; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Bing Blog: Your content, your choice, clearer preferences for training and grounding](https://blogs.bing.com/search/2026/10/your-content-your-choice-clearer-preferences-for-training-and-grounding/) (announcement of 2026-10-30; checked 2026-11-06)
- [IETF Internet-Draft draft-kelley-aipref-training-preference-signal](https://datatracker.ietf.org/doc/draft-kelley-aipref-training-preference-signal/) (the `__usage_ai-training` token; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Google Search Central Blog: Supporting a shared AI training control for websites](https://developers.google.com/search/blog/2026/10/ai-training-control) (planned support, Google-Extended mapping; checked 2026-11-06)
- [Google Search Central: robots meta tag and X-Robots-Tag](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag) (Google ignores noarchive; checked 2026-11-06)