From September 15, 2026, Cloudflare’s default settings block Training and Agent crawlers on pages that display ads, for new domains, new sites of existing customers, and existing free-tier zones. And yes – because mixed-use crawlers are judged by the most restrictive rule on your zone, blocking Training can catch Googlebot, Bingbot, and Applebot.
The background: on July 1, 2026, Cloudflare replaced its blunt “Block AI bots” toggle with three classes – Search, Agent, and Training – and announced new defaults taking effect September 15 (Cloudflare’s “Content Independence Day” announcement; covered by TechCrunch the same day).
What it means for a WooCommerce store:
- The ad-page condition limits the blast radius. The new default block applies to pages that display ads. Most stores don’t run display advertising, so product pages on an existing paid zone with saved settings may see no change at all.
- Free-tier and unset zones inherit the new defaults. If your zone has never saved an explicit AI bot preference, the new defaults apply to you. Doing nothing is a decision – it’s Cloudflare’s decision.
- The Googlebot trap is the real risk. Multi-purpose crawlers – Googlebot, Bingbot, Applebot – perform Search and Training functions, and Cloudflare evaluates them under the most restrictive applicable rule. A zone that blocks Training (including via the old “Block AI bots” toggle) can end up blocking the crawler your Google rankings depend on.
What to do before September 15: open Security → Settings → AI bot policies and save an explicit choice – typically Search Allow, Agent Allow, Training as your licensing stance – then set explicit allow rules for Googlebot and Bingbot rather than relying on category defaults. Re-run the crawler check in Blaze AI Discovery now and again after September 15; defaults changing under you is the failure mode this date exists to create.