Who operates Google-Extended?

Google-Extended is operated by Google. It functions as Google's AI crawler.

Does Google-Extended respect robots.txt?

Yes. Google-Extended generally follows robots.txt directives, so you can allow or disallow it with a rule for its user agent.

Should I block Google-Extended?

Block it if you do not want your content used to train AI models. Allow it if you want to contribute to and potentially be referenced by those systems.

Can I see when Google-Extended crawls my site?

Yes. Promptwatch classifies Google-Extended from your server and CDN logs in real time, showing which pages it hits, the response codes it gets, and how its crawls relate to AI citations.

Google-Extended - What It Is & How to Handle It

What is Google-Extended?

Google-Extended is Google's AI crawler. Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Gemini Apps and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products. Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI does not use web pages for grounding that have disallowed Google-Extended. Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion or ranking in Google Search.

Google-Extended matters for AI visibility because the pages it collects can shape what large language models learn about your brand, products, and expertise. Allowing it can strengthen how accurately AI systems describe and recommend you, while disallowing it keeps your content out of training data. Either way, knowing Google-Extended visits is the first step to managing how your brand shows up in AI search.

Tracking which AI crawlers and agents reach your site, and what they do once there, is the foundation of generative engine optimization. See our guides to AI crawlers and robots.txt to control automated access and protect your AI search visibility.

Promptwatch tracks Google-Extended in real time from your server and CDN logs, so you can see exactly when it visits, which pages it requests, and how those crawls relate to citations. Learn more in AI crawler logs.

Track Google-Extended with Promptwatch

Promptwatch classifies Google-Extended (Google-Extended) in real time from your server and CDN logs. See exactly when it visits, which pages it requests, the status codes it gets, and how those crawls map to AI citations.

How to handle Google-Extended

If you do not want Google-Extended using your content for AI training, disallow it in robots.txt. If you are comfortable contributing to AI systems, leave it allowed.

To control Google-Extended, add a rule for its user agent to your robots.txt:

User-agent: Google-Extended
Disallow: /

Google-Extended generally honors robots.txt directives.

Examples

A publisher reviews server logs, sees Google-Extended requesting long-form articles, and decides whether to allow or disallow it in robots.txt.
A site owner adds a Disallow rule for Google-Extended to keep premium guides out of AI training datasets.