01 · Operator
Who operates Google-Site-Verification
- Company
- Type
- Other bot
- Official docs
- developers.google.com
02 · Behavior
What Google-Site-Verification does
When a user verifies site ownership in Search Console, it fetches the verification token from the site. It is a user-triggered fetcher, not an autonomous crawler. Google states such fetchers generally ignore robots.txt.
03 · Impact
Why Google-Site-Verification matters for your site
If you allow it
- Needed to verify ownership in Google Search Console
- Runs only when a user starts verification
If you block it
- Unverified requests may be fakes using the name
- No other function beyond verification
04 · Allow
How to allow Google-Site-Verification
robots.txt
User-agent: Google-Site-Verification
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Google-Site-Verification")
Action: Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules
# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.WordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: Google-Site-Verification
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "Google\-Site\-Verification") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Google\-Site\-Verification [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block Google-Site-Verification
Google-Site-Verification has been reported to ignore robots.txt. Block it at your CDN or web server as well.
robots.txt
# Google-Site-Verification has been reported to ignore robots.txt.
# Add a Cloudflare, nginx or Apache rule as well.
User-agent: Google-Site-Verification
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "Google-Site-Verification")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: Google-Site-Verification
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "Google\-Site\-Verification") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Google\-Site\-Verification [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for Google-Site-Verification
The user agent published by the operator:
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Google-Site-Verification/1.0)07 · Verification
Is it really Google-Site-Verification?
Anyone can copy a user agent. Real Google-Site-Verification requests come from the IP ranges published at developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/user-triggered-fetchers-google.json. A reverse DNS lookup of a real request resolves to gae.googleusercontent.com</code>, <code>google.com, and that hostname resolves back to the same IP.
FAQ
Questions about Google-Site-Verification
What is Google-Site-Verification?
It is the Google Site Verifier, which fetches Search Console verification tokens from your site.
Should I block Google-Site-Verification?
No, unless you never use Search Console. Blocking it can make ownership verification fail.
Does Google-Site-Verification respect robots.txt?
Google states that user-triggered fetchers like this one generally ignore robots.txt rules.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026