Your AI Connector Docs

Real-Time Web Search

Real-time web search gives your AI bot the ability to look things up while a conversation is happening — both on your own website and on the open internet. When a customer asks about a specific product, availability, or pricing that might change frequently, the bot can check and respond with up-to-date information.

In plain terms: Instead of relying only on the static information you entered during setup, the bot can visit your website pages in real time to find the latest details.

Without web search, your bot only knows what you have entered in its instructions and FAQs. That works well for information that rarely changes (like your return policy or business hours). But for things that update frequently, web search keeps the bot current.

With web search enabled, the bot can:

  • Search your website for specific products based on what the customer is looking for
  • Pull up the latest pricing, availability, or inventory information
  • Share direct links to specific product or service pages
  • Look up general questions on the open internet, even about things that aren’t on your own site
  • Read URLs that a customer shares in the conversation

Example conversation:

Customer: Do you have any 3-bedroom apartments available in Amsterdam?

Bot: Let me check our current listings for you…

We have 2 three-bedroom apartments available in Amsterdam right now:

  1. Jordaan Canal View - 3 bed/2 bath, 95m2, EUR 2,450/month
  2. De Pijp Modern - 3 bed/1 bath, 82m2, EUR 2,100/month

Would you like more details on either of these?

Without web search, the bot would have had to say something generic like “We have apartments available in Amsterdam. Check our website for current listings.” With web search, it gives the customer exactly what they need, right in the chat.

How It Works

  1. The customer asks about something specific
  2. The AI decides that looking something up would help answer the question
  3. The bot searches either the Dynamic URLs you have configured (Website search) or the open internet (Web search), using keywords from the conversation
  4. The most relevant content is retrieved
  5. The AI incorporates the findings into its reply

The bot has two web abilities. (1) Website search looks only at the Dynamic URLs you configure here, and it’s also what lets the bot open a link a customer pastes into the chat — so it needs at least one Dynamic URL to work at all. (2) Web search runs a public search across the open internet for general questions that aren’t on your own site, and needs no Dynamic URLs. Both are controlled by the AI web search toggle: turn it off and the bot does neither, and answers only from your FAQs, knowledge sources and instructions. Web search also needs a plan that includes the real-time web search feature.

The bot uses two search modes depending on the question:

  • List mode - When the customer is browsing or comparing options, the bot scans your page content and returns the most relevant results. For example: “What apartments do you have available?”
  • Specific mode - When the customer asks about a particular item, the bot finds and shares a direct link to the matching product or service. For example: “Do you have the Nike Air Max 90 in black?”

The bot picks the right mode automatically based on the conversation.

The bot also handles links that customers share. If a customer pastes a URL in the chat, the bot can read that page and use the information in the conversation.

Check Your Plan

Real-time web search is available on eligible plans, or when enabled on your account. Check your subscription tier to confirm.

Set It Up

  1. Open the Agent (under AI Studio → AI Agents). (For an Agent still attached to a classic campaign, the same setting also appears on that campaign’s FAQs & Knowledge step.)
  2. Click its FAQs & Knowledge tab — web search lives there together with your FAQs and knowledge sources, since they’re all ways the bot finds answers.
  3. Scroll to the AI web search section.
  1. Flip the toggle next to AI web search to ON. (If your plan doesn’t include this feature, the toggle is disabled and an upgrade notice appears — upgrade in Settings → Billing first.)
  2. A list and a text input now appear underneath. These are your Dynamic URLs — the web pages the bot will search, up to 10 per Agent. They are optional: leave the list empty and the bot can still run a public web search. Adding at least one URL is what switches on searching your own pages and reading links customers paste into the chat.
  3. Paste a URL into the input, then click + Add (or press Enter).
  1. Repeat for each page you want to add. Once you’ve added 10, the input disappears — remove one first if you want to add a different page.
  2. Click Save changes at the bottom.

What Are Dynamic URLs?

Dynamic URLs are the web pages you want the bot to be able to search during conversations. These are different from the “Sales Page URLs” you may have added during campaign setup:

Sales Page URLs Dynamic URLs
When used Read once during campaign setup Searched in real time during every relevant conversation
Purpose Generate initial bot instructions and FAQs Provide live, up-to-date answers
Best for Static content (about page, general info) Frequently changing content (listings, inventory, pricing)

What Pages to Add as Dynamic URLs

  • Product listing or catalog pages
  • Service pages
  • Pricing pages that change frequently
  • Inventory or availability pages
  • Any page with information that updates regularly

Common Use Cases

Scenario What the Customer Asks
Product search “Do you have any blue running shoes in size 10?”
Availability check “What apartments do you have available this month?”
Pricing lookup “How much is the Professional plan?”
Feature comparison “What’s the difference between Basic and Pro?”
Current promotions “Do you have any sales going on?”
Link verification Customer shares a product link, bot reads it and provides details

When Does the Bot Search (and When Does It Not)?

The bot WILL search when:

  • The customer asks about something specific that is likely on your website
  • The question involves details that change (pricing, availability, stock levels)
  • The answer is not already covered in the bot’s instructions or FAQs

The bot will NOT search when:

  • The question can be answered from FAQs or the AI Instructions (no need to search)
  • The question is unrelated to your website content

Credit Cost

A web search is billed like any other bot tool call, at your Agent’s AI Quality tier:

AI Quality tier Credits per web search With your own Anthropic key (BYOK) connected
Pro 1 credit 0 credits — runs on your key
Economy (deprecated) 0.5 credits 0 credits — runs on your key
Max 0.25 credits still 0.25 credits, billed even with your own key connected, because Max runs on our own model
Mini 0.15 credits still 0.15 credits, billed even with your own key connected, because Mini runs on our own model

Tip: If the bot is searching too frequently for the same types of questions, consider adding those answers as FAQs instead. FAQs are included automatically and do not cost extra credits.

Tips for Best Results

  1. Add pages with structured content. Product listing pages, catalogs, and pricing tables work best. Avoid pages that require a login. JavaScript-rendered and dynamic pages are supported.

  2. Use web search alongside FAQs. For information that rarely changes (return policies, business hours, general info), use FAQs. Reserve web search for content that updates frequently.

  3. Test in Try Out. Ask product-specific questions to make sure the bot can find and present information from your website correctly.

  4. Monitor credit usage. If your bot searches frequently, consider expanding your FAQs to cover common questions - this reduces the need for web searches and saves credits.

Next Steps

  • Managing FAQs — the other tool on the same tab for grounding the bot in your content.
  • Custom Functions — the built-in Search Your Website, Check a Link, and Search the Web tools this feature powers.
  • AI Agents — where the FAQs & Knowledge tab lives.