01 · Operator
Who operates APIs-Google
- Company
- Type
- Other bot
- Official docs
- developers.google.com
02 · Behavior
What APIs-Google does
APIs-Google sends push notification requests to endpoints that developers registered with Google APIs. It runs from a different IP range than Googlebot. It ignores the global robots.txt user agent (*) and only follows rules addressed to APIs-Google.
03 · Impact
Why APIs-Google matters for your site
If you allow it
- Needed for push notifications you set up with Google APIs
- Verifiable Google traffic
If you block it
- No effect on search visibility
- Not needed if you use no Google API push notifications
04 · Allow
How to allow APIs-Google
robots.txt
User-agent: APIs-Google
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "APIs-Google")
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: APIs-Google
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "APIs\-Google") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} APIs\-Google [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block APIs-Google
APIs-Google does not always follow robots.txt. Add a server or CDN rule if you need a hard block.
robots.txt
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "APIs-Google")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "APIs\-Google") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} APIs\-Google [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for APIs-Google
The user agent published by the operator:
APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html)07 · Verification
Is it really APIs-Google?
Anyone can copy a user agent. Real APIs-Google requests come from the IP ranges published at developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/special-crawlers.json. A reverse DNS lookup of a real request resolves to google.com, and that hostname resolves back to the same IP.
FAQ
Questions about APIs-Google
What is APIs-Google?
It is a Google crawler that delivers push notification messages sent through Google APIs.
Does APIs-Google obey robots.txt?
It ignores the wildcard (*) group. It follows rules only when you name APIs-Google directly in robots.txt.
How can I verify APIs-Google requests?
Check the IP against Google's special-crawlers.json list, or confirm reverse DNS resolves to rate-limited-proxy-*.google.com.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026