Safe Official docs Google Bots

APIs-Google

Operated by Google

Quick Facts

User-Agent:
APIs-Google
Category:
Google Bots
Operator:
Google
Safety:
Safe
Blocking Impact:
Low - No SEO ranking impact
SEO Impact Score:
2/10
Official docs:
developers.google.com

Confirmed by the operator

Google names APIs-Google on its own documentation page, linked above. The token, purpose and robots.txt behaviour on this profile come from that page, re-checked on October 19, 2026.

What is APIs-Google?

APIs-Google is an on-demand AI fetcher operated by Google. It retrieves a page only when a user explicitly asks an AI assistant or agent to read, summarize, or act on a specific URL. Because it is triggered by real user intent rather than bulk crawling, blocking it mainly prevents users from pulling your content into Google's assistant.

APIs-Google is an on-demand AI fetcher operated by Google. It retrieves a page only when a user explicitly asks an AI assistant or agent to read, summarize, or act on a specific URL. Because it is triggered by real user intent rather than bulk crawling, blocking it mainly prevents users from pulling your content into Google's assistant.
APIs-Google uses the user-agent token APIs-Google. You can control it via robots.txt, meta tags (noai), or the emerging llms.txt standard. Robots.txt is voluntary; for hard enforcement, combine it with server-level IP blocking.

What happens if you block APIs-Google?

🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking APIs-Google will not hurt Google or Bing rankings, but it can remove your content from AI search answers and assistant citations powered by this crawler. Block only if you have a deliberate reason.
Generally safe to allow; provides legitimate crawling value.

How to block APIs-Google with robots.txt

<code>User-agent: APIs-Google</code> - Matching is case-insensitive. Robots.txt is fetched from the root of each subdomain separately.

Block completely (robots.txt)
User-agent: APIs-Google Disallow: /
Allow all (robots.txt)
User-agent: APIs-Google Allow: /
Block private only (robots.txt)
User-agent: APIs-Google Disallow: /private/ Disallow: /api/ Disallow: /admin/ Allow: /
Nginx server block
# Nginx: Hard-block APIs-Google if ($http_user_agent ~* "APIs-Google") { return 403 "Bot blocked"; }
Apache .htaccess
# Apache: Hard-block APIs-Google SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "APIs-Google" bad_bot Order Allow,Deny Allow from all Deny from env=bad_bot
Meta robots tag
<meta name="robots" content="noindex, nofollow">
X-Robots-Tag header
X-Robots-Tag: noindex, nofollow

Is APIs-Google safe to allow?

Yes, APIs-Google is a safe and legitimate crawler operated by Google. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Verify by reverse-DNS lookup: legitimate APIs-Google requests resolve to Google's domain.

What does APIs-Google do?

Understanding APIs-Google's purpose helps you decide whether to allow or block it.

  • Fetches a page only when a user asks an AI assistant to read it
  • Summarizes or extracts the URL the user provided
  • Triggered by real user intent, not bulk crawling
  • Low traffic volume compared with training crawlers
  • Blocking it prevents users from pulling your content into the assistant

APIs-Google in context

APIs-Google is a user-triggered agent operated by Google. In plain terms, it fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it. Our database files it under Google crawlers and ranks it Tier 3, mid-priority crawlers with a clear purpose but a smaller audience. 20 of the 24 Google crawlers in our database share this tier.

Its safety rating is safe and its blocking impact is not documented. So the decision about APIs-Google rests on what you want from Google, not on its behaviour. How we rate safety and impact.

How site owners treat APIs-Google

Our robots.txt study of the Tranco top 10,000 did not track APIs-Google as a named token, so we do not publish an adoption figure for it. If you run a large site, your own logs are the best evidence of how often it visits.

Does it follow robots.txt?

APIs-Google's operator does not clearly document how it treats robots.txt. Write the APIs-Google rule anyway, then confirm in your logs that its requests stop.

Google crawlers and close alternatives

APIs-Google is one of 32 Google crawlers in our database. A User-agent: APIs-Google group controls APIs-Google only; the other Google tokens below need their own lines.

  • APIs-Google: this crawler (Tier 3)
  • AdsBot-Google: Google Ads Quality (Desktop), checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 3)
  • AdsBot-Google-Mobile: Google Ads Quality (Mobile), checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 3)
  • Chrome-Lighthouse: Lighthouse Audit, checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 4)
  • FeedFetcher-Google: Google Feed Fetcher, builds a search or answer index (Tier 3)
  • Gemini-Deep-Research: Gemini-Deep-Research, fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it (Tier 3)
  • Google-Agent: Google Agent (Project Mariner), fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it (Tier 2)
  • Google-CloudVertexBot: Google Vertex AI, fetches a page when a person asks an assistant or app to open it (Tier 3)
  • Google-CWS: Chrome Web Store Fetcher, checks pages for an SEO, uptime or analytics service (Tier 4)

To give APIs-Google the same answer as its siblings, stack User-agent: APIs-Google with their lines above one set of rules; to treat APIs-Google differently, give it its own group.

No other crawler in our Google crawlers category has exactly the same purpose, which makes APIs-Google an unusual case: decide about it on its own merits.

We first recorded APIs-Google on September 22, 2026. Google documents it on developers.google.com, and we recheck that page before each release.

Which rule APIs-Google actually follows

APIs-Google reads exactly one group in robots.txt, the most specific one that names APIs-Google, and never combines rules across groups. This short file shows the trap:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /private/

User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /drafts/
  1. Find the group. APIs-Google looks for a group naming APIs-Google. One exists, so it ignores User-agent: * completely.
  2. Apply only that group. It is refused /drafts/ and nothing else.
  3. The surprise. /private/ is open to APIs-Google, because that rule lives in the * group it no longer reads. To keep it out of both, repeat Disallow: /private/ inside its own group.
Test yourself: does a rule under User-agent: * apply to APIs-Google if the file also has a User-agent: APIs-Google group?

No. Once a group names it, APIs-Google reads only that group. Put every rule you want it to follow inside its own group.

Test yourself: will blocking APIs-Google remove your pages from AI answers?

Often, yes. APIs-Google is a user-triggered agent, so pages it cannot fetch can drop out of the answers or results it supports.

Test yourself: is User-agent: apis-google the same as User-agent: APIs-Google?

Yes. RFC 9309 makes user-agent matching case-insensitive. Paths are a different story: Disallow: /Blog/ does not block /blog/.

Should you allow APIs-Google? Decide by situation

Recommended setting for APIs-Google by type of site
If you are...Recommended setting
You publish content and want AI answers to cite itAllow it. APIs-Google fetches pages for answers, so blocking it can remove you from them.
You license content and want to stop AI trainingBlocking it does not stop training, because APIs-Google is a user-triggered agent. Block the operator's training crawler instead.
You run an online shopAllow it unless it is overloading your servers.
Your server is under load from botsRate-limit before blocking. It is rated safe in our database.

Check APIs-Google on your own site

  1. Open /robots.txt on your domain and search for APIs-Google. If it is not named, it follows User-agent: *.
  2. List the Disallow lines in the group APIs-Google follows and test your key URLs against them; the longest match wins, and Allow wins a tie.
  3. Look beyond the file. A firewall or bot manager can refuse APIs-Google even when robots.txt allows it, and that never shows in the file.
  4. Run our live AI crawler test to see how APIs-Google and every other crawler we track are treated in one pass, including firewall refusals.

Common mistakes with APIs-Google

The errors we see most often with APIs-Google in the files and firewalls we test:

  1. Assuming a robots.txt rule will stop APIs-Google. User-triggered fetches act for a person, and some operators say robots.txt may not apply to them. Check the operator's statement above.
  2. Blocking APIs-Google as if it were a bulk crawler. It fetches one page because a person asked; blocking it means that person's assistant cannot read your page.
  3. Counting APIs-Google visits as crawl volume. Each request maps to a real user question, which makes the paths it requests a useful signal of what people ask about you.

All three hide inside a file that looks correct, so check APIs-Google from outside after every change.

Spotting APIs-Google in your logs

robots.txt says what APIs-Google may do; your access logs show what it actually did.

Count requests

On a server with standard Nginx or Apache logs, this counts matching requests per day (adjust the log path for your host):

grep -iE "APIs-Google" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $4}' | cut -d: -f1 | sort | uniq -c

And this shows which paths it requested most, which is the quickest way to see whether your Disallow lines are being respected:

grep -iE "APIs-Google" /var/log/nginx/access.log \
  | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20

Check the requests are genuine

Anyone can send the APIs-Google user-agent, so confirm the source before acting on a match:

  • APIs-Google: we hold no published IP list, so use reverse DNS where the operator documents a hostname and treat an unverifiable APIs-Google request with caution.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the official user-agent string for APIs-Google?
The official user-agent string for APIs-Google is: APIs-Google. Use this exact string in robots.txt, Nginx, Apache, or Cloudflare firewall rules to target this bot. Matching in robots.txt is case-insensitive. Verify a request genuinely comes from APIs-Google by performing a reverse-DNS lookup on the source IP.
Is APIs-Google safe?
Yes, APIs-Google is a safe and legitimate crawler operated by Google. It follows the Robots Exclusion Protocol (RFC 9309) and can be controlled with standard robots.txt rules.
Will blocking APIs-Google hurt my SEO?
🔶 AI Visibility Trade-off - Blocking APIs-Google will not hurt Google or Bing rankings, but it can remove your content from AI search answers and assistant citations powered by this crawler. Block only if you have a deliberate reason.
How do I block APIs-Google in robots.txt?
Add the following lines to your /robots.txt file:
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /

This instructs APIs-Google not to crawl any path on your site. To block only specific sections, replace / with the path (e.g., Disallow: /blog/).
Does APIs-Google respect robots.txt?
APIs-Google is operated by Google and is expected to fetch and parse /robots.txt before crawling, following RFC 9309. For hard enforcement, combine robots.txt with server-level IP or user-agent blocking.
How do I verify if APIs-Google is crawling my site?
Search your web server access logs for the string APIs-Google (case-insensitive: grep -i "APIs-Google" /var/log/nginx/access.log). Filter by user-agent in your log analytics tool (GoAccess, AWStats, etc.).

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