Googlebot-Image user agent
Operated by Google
Googlebot-Image is Google's crawler for image URLs shown in Google Images, Discover and image features in Search.
The Googlebot-Image bot at a glance
- Googlebot-Image is operated by Google and crawls web pages for a search engine index.
- The robots.txt token for Googlebot-Image is Googlebot-Image.
- Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results.
- Googlebot-Image robots.txt support: Yes.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is Googlebot-Image?
Googlebot-Image fetches image files for Google Images and for image results inside Google Search.
A Googlebot-Image rule only affects images; normal pages keep following the Googlebot rule.
Should you block Googlebot-Image?
Allow Googlebot-Image unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | AI features built on that search index, such as Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on top of Googlebot, also lose access to your pages. |
| Follows robots.txt | Yes |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow Googlebot-Image
Put the robots.txt rule in the file at the root of every domain and subdomain, for example https://example.com/robots.txt. The token Googlebot-Image is matched case-insensitively.
robots.txt: block
# Block Googlebot-Image
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow Googlebot-Image
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep Googlebot-Image out of private areas only
User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to Googlebot-Image
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(Googlebot\-Image)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to Googlebot-Image
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Googlebot\-Image) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "Googlebot-Image")How to verify real Googlebot-Image traffic
Google publishes the IP ranges that Googlebot-Image uses. A request with the Googlebot-Image user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
Official Googlebot-Image IP list (JSON)
Reverse DNS check: look up the request IP, confirm the hostname ends in googlebot.com, then look up that hostname and confirm it returns the same IP.
# 1. Reverse lookup: the hostname must end in googlebot.com
host REQUEST_IP
# 2. Forward lookup: must return the same REQUEST_IP
host HOSTNAME_FROM_STEP_1How to find Googlebot-Image in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts Googlebot-Image requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "Googlebot-Image" access.log | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20For a full report per AI bot, upload the log to the AI Log File Analyzer, a free tool by Justin Hà.
Googlebot-Image user agent string
The full user agent Google publishes for Googlebot-Image. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
Googlebot-Image/1.0Googlebot-Image FAQ
Googlebot-Image identifies itself with the robots.txt token "Googlebot-Image". A typical request header reads: Googlebot-Image/1.0
Yes. Google states that Googlebot-Image follows robots.txt rules written for the "Googlebot-Image" token.
Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results. AI features built on that search index, such as Google AI Overviews and AI Mode on top of Googlebot, also lose access to your pages.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: Googlebot-Image" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Yes. Google publishes the IP ranges Googlebot-Image uses. Check the request IP against that list; a matching user agent from any other IP is an impersonator.
Search your server access log for "Googlebot-Image", for example with: grep -i "Googlebot-Image" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: Google crawler documentation. Last reviewed by Justin Hà.
See which of these bots actually reach your website
The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and other AI crawlers in your server log, for free. The GEO Technical Package sets up robots.txt, llms.txt and crawler access for AI search.
