GoogleAgent-URLContext user agent
Operated by Google
GoogleAgent-URLContext is a user agent reported for the Gemini URL context tool, which reads pages a prompt references.
The GoogleAgent-URLContext bot at a glance
- GoogleAgent-URLContext is operated by Google and fetches a page when a person asks an AI assistant about it or shares its link.
- The robots.txt token for GoogleAgent-URLContext is GoogleAgent-URLContext.
- Blocking an AI assistant fetcher has no effect on search rankings.
- GoogleAgent-URLContext robots.txt support: Not documented.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Your choice.
What is GoogleAgent-URLContext?
The Gemini API URL context tool fetches the pages a developer or user passes in a prompt.
Google has not listed this name on its fetcher page.
Should you block GoogleAgent-URLContext?
Blocking GoogleAgent-URLContext is a business decision: it protects your content but can lower how well AI products know your brand.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking an AI assistant fetcher has no effect on search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | Blocking stops the assistant from reading your page when a user asks about it or pastes your link, so its answer falls back to other sources. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not documented |
| Recommendation | Your choice |
How to block or allow GoogleAgent-URLContext
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 GoogleAgent-URLContext is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop GoogleAgent-URLContext, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block GoogleAgent-URLContext
User-agent: GoogleAgent-URLContext
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow GoogleAgent-URLContext
User-agent: GoogleAgent-URLContext
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep GoogleAgent-URLContext out of private areas only
User-agent: GoogleAgent-URLContext
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to GoogleAgent-URLContext
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(GoogleAgent\-URLContext)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to GoogleAgent-URLContext
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (GoogleAgent\-URLContext) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "GoogleAgent-URLContext")How to verify real GoogleAgent-URLContext traffic
Google publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for GoogleAgent-URLContext, so the user agent cannot be verified. Anyone can send the same string. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
How to find GoogleAgent-URLContext in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts GoogleAgent-URLContext requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "GoogleAgent-URLContext" 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.
GoogleAgent-URLContext FAQ
GoogleAgent-URLContext uses the robots.txt token "GoogleAgent-URLContext". Google does not publish a full user-agent string, so match the token inside the User-Agent header.
Google has not documented how GoogleAgent-URLContext treats robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule and back it with a server rule if the traffic matters to you.
Blocking an AI assistant fetcher has no effect on search rankings. Blocking stops the assistant from reading your page when a user asks about it or pastes your link, so its answer falls back to other sources.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: GoogleAgent-URLContext" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. Google publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for GoogleAgent-URLContext, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "GoogleAgent-URLContext", for example with: grep -i "GoogleAgent-URLContext" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: Public bot registry. 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.
