Googlebot: purpose, robots.txt rules and access checks

Technical reference

Operator	Google
Class	Search / retrieval
HTTP User-Agent	Desktop example: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Googlebot/2.1; +http://www.google.com/bot.html). Mobile and browser-version variants also exist.
Citation impact	Blocking crawling can prevent Google from fetching new content. Indexing and snippet eligibility are separate checks.
IP verification	Official IP ranges or verification reference

Header versions can change. Use the product token for robots.txt matching and consult the Google crawler documentation before changing enforcement. Reference checked on 18 October 2026.

How do I allow Googlebot?

Merge this group into the robots.txt served from the page's origin. Keep any path exclusions that still apply. A named group may stop inheriting the wildcard group's exclusions.

Copy code

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

Allow retrieval and block training

This example separates the operator's documented identities where possible. It changes crawl or data-use preferences; it does not grant server access. User-triggered agents may follow a different robots.txt policy.

Copy code

User-agent: Googlebot
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

Use the interactive robots.txt builder for a per-bot policy. Test the final file against the exact page path before deploying it.

What if the CDN returns HTTP 403?

A robots.txt allow rule cannot override an HTTP 403, a login gate or a JavaScript challenge. Compare the returned body with the public page and locate the request in CDN security events. Grant an exception only after verifying the sender, scoped to the affected public routes.

The scanner uses its own network. A successful header probe does not verify Google access, and a refused probe does not establish a vendor-wide block. See the WAF troubleshooting guide.

Check your site's rules for Googlebot

Public page URL Check Googlebot access

Frequently asked questions

What does Googlebot do?

Google operates Googlebot. Googlebot crawls pages for Google Search, including the index used by Search AI features.

Does blocking Googlebot affect citations?

Blocking crawling can prevent Google from fetching new content. Indexing and snippet eligibility are separate checks.

How do I verify a Googlebot request?

Use the operator's published verification reference linked on this page. Match the source IP, not just the User-Agent header. A scanner probe comes from its own network.