Grok SEO is the work of making your pages and your brand easy for Grok to find when it searches the web and X, and easy to cite when it lists its sources. xAI documents two search tools for Grok, one for the web and one for X, and a citation system that links answers back to the pages it used. Getting cited by Grok starts with understanding those two tools, then making sure both your site and your presence on X answer the searches Grok runs.
When a buyer asks Grok “what’s the best CRM for a 20-person startup?”, you want to be in the answer and ideally in its sources. This guide sticks to what xAI publishes in its developer documentation, says clearly what it doesn’t publish, and shows how to measure whether Grok cites you.
Key takeaways
- xAI documents a Web Search tool that lets Grok search the web in real time and browse pages, and an X Search tool that searches posts, users and threads on X.
- Grok decides on its own whether to search, and it can call several tools before answering, according to xAI’s description of its agent tools.
- xAI’s API returns a list of every source the agent encountered, plus inline citations in the answer text when the model chooses to add them.
- X is a documented source for Grok, so your brand’s posts and the threads that discuss your category can matter alongside your website.
- xAI doesn’t publish a crawler name, a robots.txt token or ranking factors, so the reliable method is to measure which sources Grok cites for your buyer prompts.
Where xAI’s documentation comes from
xAI’s public documentation about search is written for developers who use Grok through the xAI API. It describes the tools Grok can call, how it decides to call them and how citations come back. xAI doesn’t state that the Grok apps follow exactly the same rules, so treat everything below as the clearest official description of how Grok searches, not a guaranteed description of every Grok answer.
How Grok searches: the web and X
xAI’s overview of agent tools explains the loop. The model will “analyze the query and determine what information or actions are needed”, then “decide what to do next: make a tool call, or provide a final answer”. The process “continues until sufficient information is gathered”. The same page notes that “the model may call multiple tools to answer a query”.
Two of those tools matter for visibility.
Web Search
The Web Search documentation says the tool “enables Grok to search the web in real-time and browse web pages to find information”. In other words, Grok doesn’t only see a list of results. It can open pages and read them before it answers.
X Search
The X Search documentation says it lets Grok “perform keyword search, semantic search, user search, and thread fetch on X”. The model picks among those four functions itself. This is the part that makes Grok different from most assistants: posts, profiles and full threads on X are a documented source, not a side effect.
One prompt, several searches
Because Grok can call tools repeatedly until it has enough information, a shortlist question can turn into several narrower searches on the web and on X. Your page or post can be found because it answers one of those searches, even if it doesn’t match the user’s original wording. We explain this pattern in query fan-out explained.
How Grok cites sources
xAI’s citations documentation describes two layers:
| Citation type | What xAI says | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| All citations | A list of every source the agent encountered, returned by default. It can include sources the agent checked and judged irrelevant | Being read is not the same as being used in the answer |
| Inline citations | Markdown-style links placed in the answer text, numbered from 1, with a source cited again reusing its number | These are the links a reader actually sees next to a claim |
xAI adds that enabling inline citations doesn’t guarantee the model cites sources in every answer: the model decides when to include them. So a Grok answer can name your brand without linking to you, or link to a third-party page that talks about you.
What xAI doesn’t document
Be careful with any guide that claims to know Grok’s “ranking factors”. Here is what xAI’s public documentation covers and what it leaves open.
| Documented | Not documented |
|---|---|
| Grok can search the web in real time and browse pages | Which search index provides web results |
| Grok can search posts, users and threads on X | How web results and X posts are weighed against each other |
| The model decides when to search and can call several tools | How results are ranked or selected |
| Every encountered source is returned, inline citations are added when the model chooses | How the Grok apps differ from the API |
| Developers can restrict web search to, or exclude, up to five domains | A crawler name or robots.txt token for site owners |
The last row is the important one for site owners. Unlike OpenAI, Anthropic or Google, xAI doesn’t publish a page that names its crawlers and explains how to allow or block them in robots.txt. Third-party directories list several user agents attributed to xAI, but none of them is confirmed by xAI, so don’t build rules on them.
What this means for your site and your X presence
Nothing on this list guarantees a citation. It removes the obvious obstacles and makes your content easier to use.
- Keep public pages open to general crawlers. Since xAI names no bot, the rules that can affect Grok are your general ones, such as a broad
User-agent: *disallow or a CDN setting that blocks unknown bots. Check both. Our guide to AI crawlers and robots.txt covers the bots that are documented. - Make pages easy to read without a browser. Grok browses pages to extract information. Put your key facts in the HTML text of the page, not only in images, PDFs or content that appears after a script runs.
- Write passages that stand alone. Short sentences that state a fact (for example, “Plans start at $15 per user per month”) are easier to quote and attribute than long marketing paragraphs.
- Keep pages visibly current. Grok searches in real time. Put an updated date on pricing, comparison and “best of” pages, and keep their facts accurate.
- Treat X as a source, not just a channel. Use a clear profile that says what your company does and for whom, post factual updates (launches, pricing changes, integrations) in plain words, and keep useful explanations in threads that make sense on their own.
- Be present where your category is discussed. For “best X for Y” questions, assistants often cite review sites, roundups and community threads. Our guide to getting cited through review sites covers how to show up there.
These are the same principles we describe in how AI assistants choose the sources they cite. For a comparison with an assistant whose crawlers are documented, see our guide to Claude SEO.
How to measure whether Grok cites you
xAI doesn’t offer site owners a report on Grok citations, so you need your own baseline.
- Choose 10 to 30 buyer prompts without your brand name: category, use-case and comparison questions. Our guide to choosing prompts to track explains how, and the AI prompt generator gives you a first list.
- Run each one several times. Answers vary between runs, especially when they rely on recent posts.
- Record mentions, position, competitors and cited sources. Note whether the sources are your site, third-party pages or posts on X.
- Change one thing, then re-run the same prompts a few weeks later and compare the trend.
Track your Grok visibility with Citegram
Citegram is a free Chrome extension with a dashboard that runs this process for you:
- Add your buyer prompts in the dashboard.
- Run them in the real Grok app. Citegram asks each prompt in a background tab with the Grok account already signed in to your browser. No API key, and questions count toward your own plan usage.
- See whether Grok named you and where. Each run records whether your brand was mentioned and its position.
- Review the cited sources. Citegram records the sources and links each answer cited, so you can see whether Grok leans on your site, review sites or X.
- Compare across assistants. The same prompts run in ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, Claude, DeepSeek and Google AI Overviews, with share of voice per brand and per assistant, the most cited domains and trends over repeated runs.
First results arrive in about 10 minutes.
FAQ
Does Grok search the web?
Yes. xAI documents a Web Search tool that lets Grok search the web in real time and browse web pages to find information. The model decides when a question needs a search and can call several tools before giving its final answer.
Does Grok use X posts as sources?
Yes. xAI documents an X Search tool that can run keyword and semantic searches on X, search users and fetch full threads. That makes posts and threads on X a source Grok can draw on, alongside web pages.
Can I block Grok in robots.txt?
xAI doesn’t publish a crawler name or robots.txt token for Grok, so there is no documented rule to allow or block it specifically. User agents listed on third-party sites aren’t confirmed by xAI. Your general robots.txt rules and CDN bot settings are what you control.
How do I get cited by Grok?
Keep your public pages open and readable, publish clear and current answers to the questions your buyers ask, and keep a factual presence on X. Then measure which sources Grok cites for your prompts, since xAI doesn’t publish how it selects them.
See where you stand in Grok
Find out whether Grok names and cites you today, before you change anything. The free plan tracks one prompt and one competitor across all assistants, forever. Pro adds unlimited prompts and competitors for $10 per seat per month. See pricing.
ChatGPT
