GoogleMessages user agent
Operated by Google
GoogleMessages is the Google fetcher that builds link previews for URLs sent in Google Messages chats.
The GoogleMessages bot at a glance
- GoogleMessages is operated by Google and reads page titles, descriptions and images to build link previews.
- The robots.txt token for GoogleMessages is GoogleMessages.
- Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings.
- GoogleMessages robots.txt support: Not for user-requested fetches.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is GoogleMessages?
GoogleMessages loads a shared URL to generate the preview shown in the chat.
Google lists it among its user-triggered fetchers, which generally ignore robots.txt.
Should you block GoogleMessages?
Allow GoogleMessages unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not for user-requested fetches |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow GoogleMessages
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 GoogleMessages is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop GoogleMessages, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block GoogleMessages
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow GoogleMessages
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep GoogleMessages out of private areas only
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to GoogleMessages
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(GoogleMessages)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to GoogleMessages
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (GoogleMessages) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "GoogleMessages")How to verify real GoogleMessages traffic
Google publishes the IP ranges that GoogleMessages uses. A request with the GoogleMessages user agent from an IP outside that list is an impersonator.
Official GoogleMessages 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 GoogleMessages in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts GoogleMessages requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "GoogleMessages" 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.
GoogleMessages FAQ
GoogleMessages uses the robots.txt token "GoogleMessages". Google does not publish a full user-agent string, so match the token inside the User-Agent header.
Partly. GoogleMessages 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 social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: GoogleMessages" 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 GoogleMessages 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 "GoogleMessages", for example with: grep -i "GoogleMessages" 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.
