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 September 22, 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

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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