What isGoogle-Extended?
One line in robots.txt that people often expect to do more than it can.
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Check your AI visibility or call: +49 151 1576 5566Google-Extended is a token in robots.txt that lets you decide whether Google may use your content for training and grounding Gemini. There is no separate crawler behind it. Google keeps fetching with its familiar crawlers, and your place in Google Search is not affected by the setting.
- According to Google it has no user agent of its own, so you will not find a Google-Extended bot in your server logs.
- Google states that Google-Extended neither affects inclusion in Search nor acts as a ranking signal.
- AI Overviews and AI Mode are part of Google Search and are not covered by it.
- In our survey on 26 Sep 2026, none of 22 small and mid-sized business websites blocked Google-Extended.
What Google-Extended controls for Gemini and what it leaves unchanged in Google Search
With Google-Extended you decide whether content Google already fetches may be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding in the Gemini apps. You set it like a crawler name, with a User-agent: Google-Extended group followed by Disallow: /.
Blocking it costs you no visibility in Google Search. Blocking Googlebot, on the other hand, would take you out of Search entirely, so make sure you never mix up these two lines when you edit the file.
Why Google-Extended does not remove you from AI Overviews
Many people expect Google-Extended to switch off AI Overviews and AI Mode as well. It does not, because both are part of Google Search. If you want to show less of your content there, Google points to the usual Search controls: nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex. There is no separate switch just for the AI features.
Keep the price of those controls in mind. A page only appears as a source in AI Overviews if it is indexed and allowed to show a snippet, so a noindex removes it from classic results and from Google's AI answers at the same time.
Frequently asked questions
Will I disappear from Google if I block Google-Extended?
No. Google states that Google-Extended does not affect inclusion in Google Search and is not a ranking signal.
Is Google-Extended a crawler of its own?
No, it is only a token in robots.txt. Google fetches with its familiar crawlers and says there is no separate user agent for it.
Can I turn off AI Overviews with Google-Extended?
No. AI Overviews are part of Google Search and are controlled through nosnippet, data-nosnippet, max-snippet or noindex.
Where to go deeper
AI Crawlers in robots.txt: Managing GPTBot and Co.
Google AI Overviews: How Google Picks Its Sources
Terms you should know in the same context
AI crawler · GPTBot · AI Overviews · AI Mode (Google) · Google indexing · Back to the AI glossary A to Z
Google-Extended separates Gemini from Search, which is exactly why each decision deserves to be made on its own.