See how Googlebot differs from Google's special crawlers and user-triggered fetchers, and how IPBot treats verified versus known-only Google traffic.
Google’s crawler estate is broader than the generic Googlebot label most dashboards show. That matters because a search crawler, a product-specific crawler, and a user-triggered fetcher should not automatically inherit the same block or allow decision.
IPBot uses the source inventory below to decide whether a request is merely known or fully verified.
Swipe sideways to review every verification column.
| Crawler | Intent | Verification | CIDRs | Freshness |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Googlebot
Official source
| search | Reverse + forward DNS | 311
IPv4 167 / IPv6 144 | 2026-05-22 |
| Google Special Crawlers
Official source
| special case | Known IP range | 266
IPv4 133 / IPv6 133 | 2026-05-22 |
| Google User-Triggered Fetchers
Official source
| user triggered | Known IP range | 1048
IPv4 524 / IPv6 524 | 2026-05-22 |
Keep Googlebot policy separate from special crawlers and user-triggered fetchers. Search indexing traffic is not the same as fetches triggered by publisher tools or end-user actions.
Apply standard search indexing controls to Googlebot, but document exceptions for special-case crawlers or fetchers that support previews, validation, or product workflows.
Only treat Googlebot as verified after reverse and forward DNS confirm the hostname. Keep special crawlers and user-triggered fetchers in their own rulesets when their business impact differs.
Standard `Googlebot` controls apply through `robots.txt` and search indexing directives.
Safe to treat as a verified crawler when reverse and forward DNS both succeed.
These are not the same as generic Googlebot indexing traffic; apply product-specific rules where needed.
Keep these separate from search crawler rules because the operational purpose differs.
These requests are initiated by a user or publisher workflow and should not be treated as standard search crawling.
Avoid blocking these with the same policy you use for autonomous indexing bots if previews matter.
IPBot verifies Googlebot through reverse and forward DNS. The IP must resolve to an allowed Google hostname and that hostname must resolve back to the same IP.
No. Googlebot is the main search crawler, but Google also publishes special-case crawler families and user-triggered fetchers with different operational roles.