Google-InspectionTool user agent
Operated by Google
Google-InspectionTool is the crawler behind Search Console URL Inspection and the Rich Results Test.
The Google-InspectionTool bot at a glance
- Google-InspectionTool is operated by Google and fetches pages to power a specific product feature.
- The robots.txt token for Google-InspectionTool is Google-InspectionTool.
- Blocking a search engine crawler removes your pages from that search engine's results.
- Google-InspectionTool robots.txt support: Yes.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is Google-InspectionTool?
Google-InspectionTool fetches a page when someone runs URL Inspection in Search Console or the Rich Results Test.
It follows Googlebot rules, so a page blocked for Googlebot also fails these tests.
Should you block Google-InspectionTool?
Allow Google-InspectionTool 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 Google-InspectionTool
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-InspectionTool is matched case-insensitively.
robots.txt: block
# Block Google-InspectionTool
User-agent: Google-InspectionTool
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow Google-InspectionTool
User-agent: Google-InspectionTool
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep Google-InspectionTool out of private areas only
User-agent: Google-InspectionTool
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to Google-InspectionTool
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(Google\-InspectionTool)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to Google-InspectionTool
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (Google\-InspectionTool) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "Google-InspectionTool")How to verify real Google-InspectionTool traffic
Google publishes the IP ranges that Google-InspectionTool uses. A request with the Google-InspectionTool user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
Official Google-InspectionTool 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 Google-InspectionTool in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts Google-InspectionTool requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "Google-InspectionTool" 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-InspectionTool user agent string
The full user agent Google publishes for Google-InspectionTool. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Google-InspectionTool/1.0)Google-InspectionTool FAQ
Google-InspectionTool identifies itself with the robots.txt token "Google-InspectionTool". A typical request header reads: Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Google-InspectionTool/1.0)
Yes. Google states that Google-InspectionTool follows robots.txt rules written for the "Google-InspectionTool" 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: Google-InspectionTool" 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-InspectionTool 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-InspectionTool", for example with: grep -i "Google-InspectionTool" 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.
