01 · Operator
Who operates GoogleMessages
- Company
- Type
- Social preview bot
- Official docs
- developers.google.com
02 · Behavior
What GoogleMessages does
When a user shares a URL in a Google Messages chat, it fetches the page to generate a link preview. Google lists it as a user-triggered fetcher. Such fetchers generally ignore robots.txt.
03 · Impact
Why GoogleMessages matters for your site
If you allow it
- Shows rich previews when your links are shared
- Requests are triggered by real users
If you block it
- Unverified requests may be fakes using the name
- You do not want previews of private URLs
04 · Allow
How to allow GoogleMessages
robots.txt
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "GoogleMessages")
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: GoogleMessages
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "GoogleMessages") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} GoogleMessages [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block GoogleMessages
GoogleMessages has been reported to ignore robots.txt. Block it at your CDN or web server as well.
robots.txt
# GoogleMessages has been reported to ignore robots.txt.
# Add a Cloudflare, nginx or Apache rule as well.
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "GoogleMessages")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "GoogleMessages") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} GoogleMessages [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for GoogleMessages
The user agent published by the operator:
GoogleMessages07 · Verification
Is it really GoogleMessages?
Anyone can copy a user agent. Real GoogleMessages 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 GoogleMessages
What is GoogleMessages in my logs?
It is Google's fetcher that builds link previews for URLs shared in Google Messages chats.
Does GoogleMessages respect robots.txt?
Google states that user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules.
Last reviewed Oct 8, 2026