Google-Read-Aloud user agent
Operated by Google
Google-Read-Aloud is the Google fetcher that reads web pages aloud with text-to-speech when a user asks.
The Google-Read-Aloud bot at a glance
- Google-Read-Aloud is operated by Google and fetches pages to power a specific product feature.
- The robots.txt token for Google-Read-Aloud is Google-Read-Aloud.
- Blocking a platform fetcher has no effect on organic search rankings.
- Google-Read-Aloud robots.txt support: Not for user-requested fetches.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is Google-Read-Aloud?
Google-Read-Aloud loads a page so Google can read it to the user.
Google lists it among its user-triggered fetchers, which generally ignore robots.txt.
Should you block Google-Read-Aloud?
Allow Google-Read-Aloud unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a platform fetcher has no effect on organic search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | Blocking breaks the feature the fetcher serves, such as ad approval or feed updates. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not for user-requested fetches |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow Google-Read-Aloud
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 Google-Read-Aloud is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop Google-Read-Aloud, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block Google-Read-Aloud
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow Google-Read-Aloud
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep Google-Read-Aloud out of private areas only
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to Google-Read-Aloud
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(Google\-Read\-Aloud)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to Google-Read-Aloud
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Google\-Read\-Aloud) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "Google-Read-Aloud")How to verify real Google-Read-Aloud traffic
Google publishes the IP ranges that Google-Read-Aloud uses. A request with the Google-Read-Aloud user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
Official Google-Read-Aloud IP list (JSON)
Reverse DNS check: look up the request IP, confirm the hostname ends in google.com, googleusercontent.com, then look up that hostname and confirm it returns the same IP.
# 1. Reverse lookup: the hostname must end in google.com, googleusercontent.com
host REQUEST_IP
# 2. Forward lookup: must return the same REQUEST_IP
host HOSTNAME_FROM_STEP_1How to find Google-Read-Aloud in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts Google-Read-Aloud requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "Google-Read-Aloud" 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.
Google-Read-Aloud FAQ
Google-Read-Aloud uses the robots.txt token "Google-Read-Aloud". Google does not publish a full user-agent string, so match the token inside the User-Agent header.
Partly. Google-Read-Aloud fetches pages because a user asked for them, and Google says robots.txt rules may not apply to those user-requested fetches. Use a firewall rule if you must stop it.
Blocking a platform fetcher has no effect on organic search rankings. Blocking breaks the feature the fetcher serves, such as ad approval or feed updates.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud" 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 Google-Read-Aloud 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 "Google-Read-Aloud", for example with: grep -i "Google-Read-Aloud" 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.
