Google-Extended vs Applebot-Extended: Which AI Crawler Should You Allow or Block?
Complete side-by-side comparison of Google-Extended (Google) and Applebot-Extended (Apple): user-agent strings, safety ratings, SEO impact, and copy-paste blocking rules. Updated August 2026.
Quick Verdict
Google-Extended has the better safety profile (Safe) compared to Applebot-Extended (Caution). If you allow only one, Google-Extended is the lower-risk choice. Applebot-Extended warrants closer monitoring in your server logs, and server-level blocking if robots.txt directives are not respected.
| Attribute | Google-Extended | Applebot-Extended |
|---|---|---|
| Operator | Apple | |
| User-agent string | Google-Extended |
Applebot-Extended |
| Category | AI & LLM Bots | Search Engines |
| Safety rating | Safe | Caution |
| SEO impact if blocked | Low - No SEO ranking impact | Critical - Blocking removes you from search results |
| Recommendation | Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value. | Consider blocking based on your content strategy. |
| Official docs | Google-Extended docs | Applebot-Extended docs |
What is Google-Extended?
A standalone token that allows web publishers to control whether their content is used to train Google's AI models (Gemini, Vertex AI) without affecting Google Search ranking.
Full Google-Extended guideWhat is Applebot-Extended?
Applebot-Extended is a secondary user-agent used by Apple. It allows web publishers to control how their content is used for training Apple's generative AI models while still remaining in search results.
Full Applebot-Extended guideHow to block each bot
Block Google-Extended in robots.txt
User-agent: Google-Extended Disallow: /
Block Applebot-Extended in robots.txt
User-agent: Applebot-Extended Disallow: /
Want to block or allow many bots at once? Use our free robots.txt generator with 196+ bot presets, then verify with the AI crawler checker.
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