Google-Extended robots.txt – The 2025 Playbook

TL;DR

Add User-agent: Google-Extended with Allow: / to your robots.txt if you want your content showing up in Gemini and other Google AI features. It has zero impact on organic rankings. Block it only if you don't want your content used for AI training. Test with cURL, monitor your logs, and enrich pages with Product/FAQ schema for maximum citation potential.

Why Google-Extended Matters to Revenue

Google rebranded Bard to Gemini in February 2024 and embedded it across Search, Ads, YouTube, and Workspace. By March 2025, Gemini hit 350 million monthly active users—that's a bigger discovery surface than Pinterest. Enterprise usage doubled year-over-year, and Google-Extended is the crawler that supplies Gemini's training data and on-the-fly responses.

2025 Usage & Traffic Stats

Meet Google's AI Crawlers

Google-Extended vs Googlebot vs Gemini Fetchers

Key point: Google-Extended does not influence rankings if you block it. It only removes your data from Gemini and SGE answers.

How to Spot Them in Logs

grep "Google-Extended" access.log | awk '{print $1,$12}' | head

Robots.txt Configuration

Quick-Start Allow / Disallow Blocks

# — Google AI crawler rules —
User-agent: Google-Extended
Allow: /

# Optional: keep training out, allow search
# User-agent: Google-Extended
# Disallow: /

Place these rules above any wildcard sections in your robots.txt.

Throttling & Burst Protection

Google-Extended ignores crawl-delay. Throttle with 429 + Retry-After headers or employ CDN rules that cap requests at 15 req/s. This is the most reliable way to manage bandwidth without losing AI visibility.

Troubleshooting Flowchart

1. Add rules to robots.txt
2. Test: curl -A "Google-Extended" https://yoursite.com/robots.txt — expect 200
3. Observe logs for hits within 48 hours
4. Bandwidth spike? Enable 429 gating at your CDN

Schema & Content Optimisation

Product / Article JSON-LD Essentials

Gemini cites price and reviews directly from Product schema in shopping conversations. Keep your JSON-LD under 32 KB and include aggregateRating for maximum citation potential:

{
  "@context": "https://schema.org",
  "@type": "Product",
  "name": "Solar-Charge Backpack",
  "sku": "SOLBP-01",
  "offers": {
    "@type": "Offer",
    "price": "129.00",
    "priceCurrency": "USD"
  },
  "aggregateRating": {
    "@type": "AggregateRating",
    "ratingValue": "4.6",
    "reviewCount": "311"
  }
}

For articles and documentation, add Article, FAQPage, and HowTo schemas. Google's July 2025 core update rewards first-hand expertise—include author bios and original photos.

Cross-Industry Quick Wins

Risk, Compliance & Core Update Alignment

Bandwidth — Use 429 gates; Google-Extended has no crawl-delay support.

Licensing — Add “AI-training permitted for Google AI only” clause in your terms if needed.

Privacy — Google-Extended respects robots.txt but will fetch anything public. Gate PII behind authentication.

EEAT — Include author credentials, peer-review citations, and outbound .gov / journal links for core-update safety.

Implementation Checklist

1. Backup your current robots.txt
2. Insert the allow/disallow block
3. Test with curl -A "Google-Extended"
4. Monitor logs for hits
5. Add GA4 filter for utm_source=gemini.google.com
6. Audit schema coverage across key pages
7. Check server load after 14 days
8. Update your internal SOP
9. Schedule quarterly audit
10. Book an expert SEO Audit to benchmark AI readiness

FAQs

What is Google-Extended?

Google-Extended is a crawler that collects public pages for Gemini and other Google AI models. It doesn't index for classic search results.

Does allowing Google-Extended affect SEO?

No. Google-Extended is separate from Googlebot, so your rankings stay unchanged.

How do I block Google-Extended?

Add User-agent: Google-Extended plus Disallow: / in your robots.txt.

Does Google-Extended honour crawl-delay?

No. Throttle with 429 responses or CDN rate limits instead.

Where can I see Google-Extended traffic?

Filter server logs for its user-agent or track utm_source=gemini.google.com in GA4.

Is Your Site Ready for AI Search?

Configuring robots.txt is just one piece of the puzzle. Our AI Search Optimization service ensures your site is structured, cited, and visible across Google AI Overviews, ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Gemini.

Get a Free AI Search Audit

Next Steps

Ready to capture Gemini visibility? Start with a comprehensive SEO Audit—our team benchmarks crawl health, schema depth, and Google-Extended eligibility in two weeks. Need content that earns citations? Explore our data-driven SEO programs that turn insights into demand.