Google-Extended Bot (Token) Does Not Affect Google Search

Feb 9, 2024 - 7:41 am 4 by

Google Robot Climbing Ladder

Google has made an update to its Google-Extended section of the Google crawler (user agent) search documentation to change the references of "Bard" to "Gemini" because of the product name change. Google also clarified that Google Extended has no impact or effect on Google Search.

Google added this new line that reads, "Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion or ranking in Google Search."

As a reminder, Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Gemini Apps (formerly Bard) and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products."

Google-Extended doesn't have a separate HTTP request user agent string. Crawling is done with existing Google user agent strings; the robots.txt user-agent token is used in a control capacity.

Google-Extended also does not work for controlling what Google SGE shows or not.

Google explained that this document was changed because "With the name change of Bard to Gemini Apps, we clarified that Gemini Apps is affected by Google-Extended, and, based on publisher feedback, we specified that Google-Extended doesn't affect Google Search."

Forum discussion at X.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: December 15, 2025

Dec 15, 2025 - 10:00 am
Google

Google Search Live Gets Conversational Language Upgrade With Gemini

Dec 15, 2025 - 7:51 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google: Pre-Announcing Google Core Updates Isn't Possible

Dec 15, 2025 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Tests See More Search Results Button

Dec 15, 2025 - 7:31 am
Google Search Engine Optimization

Google Tests Property Listings In Search Results

Dec 15, 2025 - 7:21 am
Google Maps

Google Removing Q&A Feature In Google Maps For AI-Powered Ask Button

Dec 15, 2025 - 7:11 am
 
Previous Story: Google Business Profiles Activities & Events In Dashboard