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Crawler

What is Google-CloudVertexBot?

Google-CloudVertexBot is the crawler Google runs when a site owner asks it to crawl their site for Vertex AI Agents.

Other botsFollows robots.txtIP list
Operator
Google
Purpose
Other bots. Ads checks, SEO tools and research crawls. Not AI training or AI search.
robots.txt token
Google-CloudVertexBot
Sample user agent
Google says the user agent contains Google-CloudVertexBot but does not publish a full string.User agents change with versions. Match on the token, not the full string.
Follows robots.txt
Yes, according to Google. Google says it has no effect on Google Search or other products.
How to verify
Check the IP against Google's published list.Reverse DNS on googlebot.com or google.com, confirmed with a forward lookup.
Sources
Google documentationGoogle IP list
Last reviewed

Allow or block Google-CloudVertexBot

Block Google-CloudVertexBot
User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot
Disallow: /

Asks Google-CloudVertexBot not to crawl any page. Well-behaved crawlers stop; it does not stop anyone who ignores robots.txt.

Allow Google-CloudVertexBot
User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot
Allow: /

Lets Google-CloudVertexBot crawl everything. You only need this if a broader rule would otherwise block it.

Should you block it?

Google-CloudVertexBot is not an AI training or AI search crawler. Block it only if you don't want Google's product to read your pages.

Write a full policy with the AI Crawler Policy Generator

How to verify a Google-CloudVertexBot request

  1. Find the IP address of the request in your server or CDN logs.
  2. Get Google's published list (Google IP list).
  3. Check whether the IP falls inside one of the ranges. If it doesn't, the request is not from Google-CloudVertexBot, whatever its user agent says.

Or with reverse DNS

  1. Run a reverse DNS lookup on the IP (host 192.0.2.1, with the IP from your log).
  2. Check the hostname ends in googlebot.com or google.com.
  3. Run a forward lookup on that hostname and check it returns the same IP. Both steps must pass.
Test Google-CloudVertexBot requests

Questions about Google-CloudVertexBot

Is Google-CloudVertexBot safe to allow?

Google-CloudVertexBot reads public pages; it does not log in or submit forms. Whether to allow it depends on whether you want Google's product to use your pages.

How do I know a request is really Google-CloudVertexBot?

Check the request against what Google publishes: Check the IP against Google's published list. Reverse DNS on googlebot.com or google.com, confirmed with a forward lookup. The user agent alone proves nothing.

How often does Google-CloudVertexBot visit?

It depends on your site; Google doesn't publish a schedule. Referscope shows the real visits.

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