Cloudflare’s AI Paywall Is a Win for Creators, But a Risk for Unaware Businesses

On July 1, 2025, Cloudflare announced Pay Per Crawl, a new system that allows websites to charge AI models for crawling their content. 

At first glance, it sounds like a huge win for digital ownership—and it is. But there’s a catch that’s already affecting many businesses: Cloudflare has started blocking AI crawlers by default on new accounts, often without the site owner even knowing. 

Platforms like Shopify have followed suit, quietly setting boundaries for ‘buy-for-me’ AI bots on merchant sites. The result is a sharp drop in AI-driven SEO visibility and traffic, especially from engines like Bing and ChatGPT, which rely on AI summarization.

At MRKT360, we’re optimistic about what Cloudflare’s means for creators and copyright—but we’re also sounding the alarm for businesses who may have silently opted out. 

Our team has already observed a decline in organic traffic from Bing, and we’ve developed early solutions to restore visibility while positioning clients to monetize their content through GEO.

The Old Search Contract Is Broken — Here’s Why That Matters

Back in the early days of SEO, the relationship between search engines and websites was mutually beneficial. Crawlers indexed your site, users clicked your links, and you got traffic in return.

But that changed when LLMs (Large Language Models) like ChatGPT, Gemini, and Copilot entered the picture. Today, when a user asks ChatGPT for a cookie recipe, they receive a complete, well-written response, but they never click through to the blog that originally published it.

It’s like letting someone photocopy your book and sell summaries—without buying the book, without giving you credit, and without driving traffic. The result?

No traffic. No attribution. No revenue.

Even when AI tools like Google’s AI Overviews do cite their sources, users rarely follow the links. Content creators get scraped, but not seen. This imbalance led to a growing demand: 

“If AI is going to use our work, we should be compensated.”

Pay Per Crawl: Cloudflare’s Solution for Returning Control to Website Owners

Recognizing its central role in global web traffic, Cloudflare stepped up. In late 2024, it began rolling out tools to help publishers block AI crawlers—tools that became especially important when major outlets like the BBC and America TODAY began opting out of LLM indexing.

But now, Cloudflare is doing more than just protecting content. It’s empowering creators to choose how their work is used, and how they’re paid. The July 2025 announcement of Pay Per Crawl introduced a monetization layer that shifts the conversation from defensive blocking to permissioned access with pricing.

With Pay-Per-Crawl, Cloudflare will allow websites to charge AI companies (like OpenAI, Gemini, or any LLM-based crawler) for accessing their site data. In other words, instead of simply saying “no,” site owners can now say, “Sure, but pay up.”

In simple terms: you will have control over how AI models interact with your website. Through Cloudflare’s new Pay Per Crawl model, site owners can:

• Allow: Grant free access to AI models.
• Charge: Set a price per crawl request.
• Block: Deny access entirely.
  

It’s a flexible framework that allows content creators, businesses, and publishers to choose visibility, compensation, or protection depending on their goals.

But there’s one problem: many businesses were opted into “Block” without realizing it.

The SEO Pitfall: Visibility Lost By Blocking

As Cloudflare and others (like Shopify) implement blocking as the default, many websites are now excluded from AI indexing without knowing. The implications are huge: 

If your site is blocked, you’re invisible to ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, and other AI engines that increasingly drive user discovery.

At MRKT360, we’ve seen Bing traffic drop across client accounts affected by these changes. And while blocking protects content, it also prevents visibility in the next evolution of search.

That’s why we’re taking proactive steps to help clients reclaim control—and prepare to be paid for their content.

How Businesses Can Monetize Their Content With GEO

The launch of Pay-Per-Crawl could reshape how we think about content monetization and SEO. Instead of just optimizing for Google’s algorithm, we’re entering the world of Generative Engine Optimization (GEO).

What is GEO? Imagine SEO’s smarter sibling. It means structuring your content so it’s understandable and useful for AI models on your terms. And thanks to Cloudflare, you will have options to allow, block, or charge for access.

If you want to read more about GEO, click here to dive into one of our previous blogs where we go deeper into the matter.

The fear used to be: “If AI summarizes everything, no one will visit my site.” But with GEO, and especially with Cloudflare’s new monetization tools, the narrative flips.

Now you can:

• Opt in to AI crawling and get compensated.
• Optimize your content so that AI models quote or summarize it accurately.
• Block bad actors or unwanted scrapers entirely.

In short: creators win, businesses win, and the internet becomes a little bit more fair.

To respond to this shift, MRKT360 has introduced AI SEO services as part of a dedicated Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) plan. GEO is the future of SEO—a strategy designed for AI-driven discovery engines.

Traditional SEO taught us how to rank on Google,” said Eran Hurvitz, CEO of MRKT360. “GEO is the evolution, designed to ensure your content is readable, attributable, and profitable when used by AI. And now, thanks to Cloudflare’s initiatives, it can be monetized too.

What MRKT360 Is Doing

As part of this transition, MRKT360 now includes Cloudflare setup, optimization, and AI crawler management as standard for all clients. The agency combines performance marketing expertise with technical infrastructure to ensure client content is not only protected, but strategically positioned for long-term value.

4 Steps You Can Take Right Now

If you’re a business owner with a blog, resource hub, or media archive, this change matters more than you may realize. You don’t need to be a tech expert—but you do need to take action.

1. Check Your Status: Log in to Cloudflare and verify whether your site is blocking AI by default.
2. Join the Beta: Sign up for Cloudflare’s Pay Per Crawl beta if you want the option to monetize your content.
3. Review Your Content Strategy: GEO is not just about keywords—it’s about structure, attribution, and discoverability by AI engines.
4. Talk to MRKT360: We’ll audit your setup, optimize your AI visibility, and position your site for future monetization.

Need Help Setting Everything Up? Let’s Talk.

At MRKT360, we go beyond marketing and optimize the IT foundation that supports it. From Cloudflare setup, optimization, and management to ongoing issue prevention and performance tuning, we ensure your digital presence is built on solid ground.

This is standard for our clients. The best marketing results don’t happen without great IT.

While Pay-Per-Crawl is still in beta, we’re already preparing our clients for the moment it goes live. Let us help you stay ahead of the curve and make sure your content works for you.

About MRKT360

MRKT360 is a results-driven digital marketing and solutions agency offering end-to-end services in performance marketing, AI strategy, SEO, GEO, paid media, and IT optimization. 

With clients around the world, MRKT360 specializes in future-proofing brands through innovative solutions that align marketing and infrastructure.