GeoPromptTracker

AI crawler profile

What is GoogleOther? How to allow or block Google's crawler

User-agent string to match in robots.txt and server logs: GoogleOther

Operator

Google

Purpose

Training + search

robots.txt

Respects robots.txt

Official docs

Google documentation ↗

GoogleOther is Google's catch-all crawler for uses outside Search indexing — research, internal development, and product one-offs, which can include AI-related work. It exists so those fetches don't masquerade as Googlebot. Blocking it does not affect Google Search rankings, which remain governed by Googlebot.

Does GoogleOther respect robots.txt?

Officially documented by Google and respects robots.txt like the rest of its crawler family.

Verify it's really GoogleOther

The user-agent string above is self-declared, so anything can send it. Google publishes GoogleOther's IP ranges as JSON, which is what makes a rule verifiable: check the request's IP against the published prefixes instead of trusting the name. Requests claiming to be GoogleOther from outside those ranges are spoofed — useful to know whether you're allowing or blocking it.

Block GoogleOther with robots.txt

robots.txt — block
User-agent: GoogleOther
Disallow: /

Explicitly allow GoogleOther

robots.txt — allow
User-agent: GoogleOther
Allow: /

Block GoogleOther at the server or CDN

robots.txt is the right first step for GoogleOther, since Google honors it. Use these only if you want the block enforced rather than requested — for example to stop agents spoofing the user agent. Matching on the user-agent string still trusts a self-declared header — pair it with an IP check against the published ranges above for a rule that can't be spoofed.

nginx
if ($http_user_agent ~* "GoogleOther") {
    return 403;
}
apache — .htaccess
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} GoogleOther [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
cloudflare — WAF expression
(http.user_agent contains "GoogleOther")

Find GoogleOther in your server logs

shell
grep -i "GoogleOther" /var/log/nginx/access.log | wc -l

Should you block GoogleOther?

It's a genuine trade-off: GoogleOtherserves both search-style features (which send you visibility) and model training (which you may want to opt out of). Since one user agent controls both, you can't split the decision — weigh which matters more using our blocking decision guide.

Check and monitor GoogleOther on your site

Related reading

Frequently asked questions

What is GoogleOther?

GoogleOther is Google's crawler serving both AI search features and model training. Google's generic crawler for research and internal product uses.

Does GoogleOther respect robots.txt?

Officially documented by Google and respects robots.txt like the rest of its crawler family.

How do I block GoogleOther?

Add "User-agent: GoogleOther" followed by "Disallow: /" to your robots.txt file. The change takes effect the next time the bot fetches your robots.txt.

Does blocking GoogleOther hurt my Google rankings?

No. GoogleOther is separate from Googlebot, which handles Google Search indexing. Blocking GoogleOther has no effect on your traditional search rankings, but it does remove your pages from the AI answers Google's assistant serves to its users.

How can I tell if GoogleOther is crawling my site?

Search your server access logs for the string "GoogleOther" — for example: grep -i "GoogleOther" /var/log/nginx/access.log | wc -l. Our free AI Bot Log Analyzer does this in your browser: paste a log file and it counts hits per AI crawler, including GoogleOther, with per-path breakdowns.

How do I use GoogleOther?

You don't — GoogleOther isn't a tool you run. It's Google's own crawler, operated by Google, that visits your site from their infrastructure. The only control you have over it is whether you allow or block it, via robots.txt or a server rule. If you're looking to crawl other sites yourself, you'd write your own crawler or use a crawling library; sending "GoogleOther" as your user agent would be impersonating Google.

Where is the official Google documentation for GoogleOther?

Google publishes it at https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/overview-google-crawlers. That page is the authoritative source for the user-agent string and Google's stated crawling policy, and Google also publishes GoogleOther's IP ranges as JSON at https://developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/common-crawlers.json so you can verify requests rather than trusting the header.

More Google agents

Part of our directory of every known AI crawler, refreshed monthly. Last verified: 2026-08-14.