31% of business websites turn at least one AI crawler away

161,416 reachable business websites in 675 indexes, as scanned by 17 October 2026.

Main points

That is 31% of 161,416 reachable business websites.
By kind of business: highest among hairdressers and beauty salons (34%), lowest among tours, attractions and museums (28%).
Among 19 salon indexes, Zurich is highest at 64%; the median is 34%.

Figure 1

By kind of business

Kind	Share	Of
restaurants	29%	74,726
cafes and bars	33%	29,566
hairdressers and beauty salons	34%	17,764
dentists, clinics and vets	30%	29,450
tours, attractions and museums	28%	9,910

Figure 2

Hairdressers and beauty salons, city by city

another salon indexmedian, 34%

0%38%75%

19 salon indexes. The median is 34%; the highest is Zurich at 64%.

#	Index	Share	Of
1	Zurich CH	64%	212
2	Munich DE	40%	368
3	Berlin DE	40%	3,115
4	Melbourne AU	40%	231
5	Hamburg DE	40%	374
6	London GB	39%	663
7	Vancouver CA	37%	185
8	Lisbon PT	37%	311
9	Cologne DE	36%	218
10	Seattle US	34%	208

All 19 salon indexes

#	Index	Share	Of
1	Zurich CH	64%	212
2	Munich DE	40%	368
3	Berlin DE	40%	3,115
4	Melbourne AU	40%	231
5	Hamburg DE	40%	374
6	London GB	39%	663
7	Vancouver CA	37%	185
8	Lisbon PT	37%	311
9	Cologne DE	36%	218
10	Seattle US	34%	208
11	Budapest HU	33%	333
12	Amsterdam NL	32%	238
13	Paris FR	30%	281
14	New York US	30%	408
15	Toronto CA	29%	316
16	Miami US	29%	2,256
17	Stockholm SE	28%	235
18	Helsinki FI	24%	303
19	Vienna AT	24%	276

Indexes under 200 scanned websites are left out. The "Of" column is the base each figure rests on.

Data, CSV JSON Method Link to this figure

About these numbers
A site turns a crawler away when its robots.txt disallows a known AI crawler or its firewall answers that crawler with an error. Many owners don't know their host or template does it.

Cite this

31% of business websites turn at least one AI crawler away (The Direct Index, 17 October 2026, directindex.org/stats/ai-blocked).

CSV JSON Markdown Method Every number

Data: ODbL. Business data from OpenStreetMap contributors and Overture Maps; website facts from the Direct Index scanner, which reads each site's public pages.