FeedFetcher-Google user agent
Operated by Google
FeedFetcher-Google is the fetcher that reads RSS and Atom feeds for Google News and WebSub.
The FeedFetcher-Google bot at a glance
- FeedFetcher-Google is operated by Google and fetches pages to power a specific product feature.
- The robots.txt token for FeedFetcher-Google is FeedFetcher-Google.
- Blocking a platform fetcher has no effect on organic search rankings.
- FeedFetcher-Google robots.txt support: Not for user-requested fetches.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is FeedFetcher-Google?
FeedFetcher-Google crawls feeds that users or publishers registered with Google products.
Google notes that user-triggered fetchers such as FeedFetcher generally ignore robots.txt.
Should you block FeedFetcher-Google?
Allow FeedFetcher-Google 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 FeedFetcher-Google
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 FeedFetcher-Google is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop FeedFetcher-Google, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block FeedFetcher-Google
User-agent: FeedFetcher-Google
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow FeedFetcher-Google
User-agent: FeedFetcher-Google
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep FeedFetcher-Google out of private areas only
User-agent: FeedFetcher-Google
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to FeedFetcher-Google
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(FeedFetcher\-Google)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to FeedFetcher-Google
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (FeedFetcher\-Google) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "FeedFetcher-Google")How to verify real FeedFetcher-Google traffic
Google publishes the IP ranges that FeedFetcher-Google uses. A request with the FeedFetcher-Google user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
Official FeedFetcher-Google 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 FeedFetcher-Google in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts FeedFetcher-Google requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "FeedFetcher-Google" 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.
FeedFetcher-Google user agent string
The full user agent Google publishes for FeedFetcher-Google. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
FeedFetcher-Google; (+http://www.google.com/feedfetcher.html)FeedFetcher-Google FAQ
FeedFetcher-Google identifies itself with the robots.txt token "FeedFetcher-Google". A typical request header reads: FeedFetcher-Google; (+http://www.google.com/feedfetcher.html)
Partly. FeedFetcher-Google 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: FeedFetcher-Google" 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 FeedFetcher-Google 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 "FeedFetcher-Google", for example with: grep -i "FeedFetcher-Google" 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.
