Google Web Preview

Last updated 20 hours ago.

What is Google Web Preview?

About

Google Web Preview is a fetcher operated by Google. It's not currently known to be artificially intelligent or AI-related. If you think that's incorrect or can provide more detail about its purpose, please contact us.

You can set up agent analytics to see when Google Web Preview visits your website.

Detail

Operator Google

Type

Fetcher
Fetches web content on behalf of an app

Expected Behavior

Fetchers visit websites on-demand. They're normally dispatched by apps to present metadata about a link (e.g. the title and thumbnail image) to a user.

Insights

Google Web Preview Visiting Your Website

Half of your traffic probably comes from artificial agents, and there are more of them every day. Track their activity with the API or WordPress plugin.

Set Up Agent Analytics

Other Websites

0%
0% of top websites are blocking Google Web Preview
Learn How →

Access Control

Should I Block Google Web Preview?

Probably not. If you block a fetcher, it won't be able to fetch the metadata it needs to display a link preview. Fewer people will click on the link to your website without this.

Using Robots.txt

You can block Google Web Preview or limit its access by setting user agent token rules in your website's robots.txt. We recommend setting up agent analytics to check whether it's actually following them.

User Agent Token Description
Google Web Preview Should match instances of Google Web Preview 
# robots.txt
# This should block Google Web Preview

User-agent: Google Web Preview
Disallow: /

Instead of doing this manually, you can use the API or Wordpress plugin to keep your robots.txt updated with the latest known AI scrapers, crawlers, and assistants automatically.

Set Up Automatic Robots.txt