Knocklog

AdsBot-Google

Google's ads checker.

Operator
Google
Type
Ads checker
In the user agent
AdsBot-Google
robots.txt token
AdsBot-Google
Follows robots.txt
says it follows robots.txt only in part
Official documentation
developers.google.com
Checked on
2026-11-11

What is AdsBot-Google?

AdsBot-Google is Google's ads checker. It checks landing pages submitted as ads.

The operator's description: Checks the quality of ad landing pages for Google Ads; ignores the * group, obeys its own. (developers.google.com)

How do I block or allow AdsBot-Google?

With robots.txt, using the token AdsBot-Google. Google says it follows robots.txt only in part. To block the whole site:

User-agent: AdsBot-Google
Disallow: /

To allow it, use Allow instead of Disallow. Before blocking, weigh what it brings: look at how often it visits and what it brings before deciding.

How do I see whether AdsBot-Google visits my site?

In your server or CDN access logs, look for AdsBot-Google in the user agent. Google Analytics does not show these visits: agents do not run its JavaScript.

Anyone can copy the name in a user agent, so counting log lines is not enough. Knocklog reads your site's traffic on any host, confirms who is who, and shows how often AdsBot-Google came, which pages it read and what that brought you.

How do I know it is really AdsBot-Google?

Google publishes AdsBot-Google's IP addresses at https://developers.google.com/static/crawling/ipranges/special-crawlers.json. A visit that claims to be AdsBot-Google from outside those ranges is spoofed.

The IP's reverse DNS, confirmed forward and back, must end in .google.com.

Knocklog runs this check on every visit and separates the genuine agent from impostors.

Does AdsBot-Google visit your site?

See in seconds how your site treats AI agents. Then connect your traffic to learn who really came.

Other Google agents

All AI agents