What is AdsBot-Google?
AdsBot-Google is the crawler Google Ads uses to check the quality of web pages used as ad landing pages. It is one of Google's special-case crawlers.
Last verified 2026-09-30 against the operator's documentation. All bots
AdsBot-Google at a glance
- Operator
- Type
- Other Google crawlers
- Purpose
- Checks the quality of ad landing pages for Google Ads.
- robots.txt token
AdsBot-Google- Example user agent
AdsBot-Google (+http://www.google.com/adsbot.html)- How to verify
- Run a reverse DNS lookup on the source IP and check that the name ends in google.com (Google uses rate-limited-proxy-….google.com for special-case crawlers), then run a forward lookup on that name and confirm it returns the same IP. Or check the IP against Google's special-case crawler ranges.
- Reverse DNS
- google.com
- Operator documentation
- https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/google-special-case-crawlers
How often is AdsBot-Google impersonated?
For the median organisation, under 1% of requests claiming to be AdsBot-Google failed verification.
Measured between 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026 across organisations protected by Centinel. We only publish a share when at least five organisations each saw enough of these requests. Pooled across all of their requests, the share was under 1%: a few large organisations carry most of the traffic, so the median organisation is the better guide to what yours will see.
This directory measures requests between 3 July 2026 and 28 September 2026. The fake crawler report covers its own, earlier window (late June to 21 September 2026), so its figures differ from the ones here. Read it for the method.
Have a request that claims to be AdsBot-Google? Check its IP address.
Should you block AdsBot-Google?
- Allow it if
- you run Google Ads that point to this site.
- Block it if
- you do not advertise with Google. Remember that User-agent: * does not cover it.
- What blocking changes
- Google Ads can no longer check your landing pages, which can affect ads that point to them.
To block it, add this group to your robots.txt. Google says AdsBot ignores the global User-agent: * group. A rule only applies if it names AdsBot-Google.
User-agent: AdsBot-Google
Disallow: /robots.txt only asks. It does nothing against a client that ignores it or only pretends to be AdsBot-Google. Stopping those takes verification at your edge.
AdsBot-Google: common questions
See which bots reach your site, and which of them are who they claim to be.
What is AdsBot-Google?
AdsBot-Google is the crawler Google Ads uses to check the quality of web pages used as ad landing pages. It is one of Google's special-case crawlers.
How do I verify that a request is really AdsBot-Google?
Run a reverse DNS lookup on the source IP and check that the name ends in google.com (Google uses rate-limited-proxy-….google.com for special-case crawlers), then run a forward lookup on that name and confirm it returns the same IP. Or check the IP against Google's special-case crawler ranges. The user agent alone proves nothing: any client can send it.
How do I block AdsBot-Google in robots.txt?
Add a group for User-agent: AdsBot-Google with Disallow: /. Google says AdsBot ignores the global User-agent: * group. A rule only applies if it names AdsBot-Google. robots.txt only asks. A client that ignores it, or pretends to be AdsBot-Google, has to be stopped at your edge.
What happens if I block AdsBot-Google?
Google Ads can no longer check your landing pages, which can affect ads that point to them.
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