APIs-Google
Google •
Since 2016
Quick Actions
Official Docs
What is APIs-Google?
APIs-Google is the user agent used by various Google API services to fetch web content. This includes fetching content for Google's push notification services, app indexing, and other API-driven features. Unlike Googlebot, APIs-Google does not respect robots.txt because it acts as a user-triggered fetcher rather than an autonomous crawler. Website owners should be aware that blocking this user agent may prevent certain Google services from functioning correctly with their content.
User Agent String
APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html)
How to Control APIs-Google
Block Completely
To prevent APIs-Google from accessing your entire website, add this to your robots.txt file:
# Block APIs-Google
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /
Block Specific Directories
To restrict access to certain parts of your site while allowing others:
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Allow: /public/
Set Crawl Delay
To slow down the crawl rate (note: not all bots respect this directive):
User-agent: APIs-Google
Crawl-delay: 10
How to Verify APIs-Google
Verification Method:
Reverse DNS lookup should resolve to google.com
Reverse DNS lookup should resolve to google.com
Learn more in the official documentation.
Detection Patterns
Multiple ways to detect APIs-Google in your application:
Basic Pattern
/APIs\-Google/i
Strict Pattern
/^APIs\-Google \(\+https\://developers\.google\.com/webmasters/APIs\-Google\.html\)$/
Flexible Pattern
/APIs\-Google[\s\/]?[\d\.]*?/i
Vendor Match
/.*Google.*APIs\-Google/i
Implementation Examples
// PHP Detection for APIs-Google
function detect_apis_google() {
$user_agent = $_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'] ?? '';
$pattern = '/APIs\\-Google/i';
if (preg_match($pattern, $user_agent)) {
// Log the detection
error_log('APIs-Google detected from IP: ' . $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR']);
// Set cache headers
header('Cache-Control: public, max-age=3600');
header('X-Robots-Tag: noarchive');
// Optional: Serve cached version
if (file_exists('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html')) {
readfile('cache/' . md5($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI']) . '.html');
exit;
}
return true;
}
return false;
}
# Python/Flask Detection for APIs-Google
import re
from flask import request, make_response
def detect_apis_google():
user_agent = request.headers.get('User-Agent', '')
pattern = r'APIs-Google'
if re.search(pattern, user_agent, re.IGNORECASE):
# Create response with caching
response = make_response()
response.headers['Cache-Control'] = 'public, max-age=3600'
response.headers['X-Robots-Tag'] = 'noarchive'
return True
return False
# Django Middleware
class APIsGoogleMiddleware:
def __init__(self, get_response):
self.get_response = get_response
def __call__(self, request):
if self.detect_bot(request):
# Handle bot traffic
pass
return self.get_response(request)
// JavaScript/Node.js Detection for APIs-Google
const express = require('express');
const app = express();
// Middleware to detect APIs-Google
function detectAPIsGoogle(req, res, next) {
const userAgent = req.headers['user-agent'] || '';
const pattern = /APIs-Google/i;
if (pattern.test(userAgent)) {
// Log bot detection
console.log('APIs-Google detected from IP:', req.ip);
// Set cache headers
res.set({
'Cache-Control': 'public, max-age=3600',
'X-Robots-Tag': 'noarchive'
});
// Mark request as bot
req.isBot = true;
req.botName = 'APIs-Google';
}
next();
}
app.use(detectAPIsGoogle);
# Apache .htaccess rules for APIs-Google
# Block completely
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} APIs\-Google [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
# Or redirect to a static version
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} APIs\-Google [NC]
RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} !^/static/
RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /static/$1 [L]
# Or set environment variable for PHP
SetEnvIfNoCase User-Agent "APIs\-Google" is_bot=1
# Add cache headers for this bot
<If "%{HTTP_USER_AGENT} =~ /APIs\-Google/i">
Header set Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600"
Header set X-Robots-Tag "noarchive"
</If>
# Nginx configuration for APIs-Google
# Map user agent to variable
map $http_user_agent $is_apis_google {
default 0;
~*APIs\-Google 1;
}
server {
# Block the bot completely
if ($is_apis_google) {
return 403;
}
# Or serve cached content
location / {
if ($is_apis_google) {
root /var/www/cached;
try_files $uri $uri.html $uri/index.html @backend;
}
try_files $uri @backend;
}
# Add headers for bot requests
location @backend {
if ($is_apis_google) {
add_header Cache-Control "public, max-age=3600";
add_header X-Robots-Tag "noarchive";
}
proxy_pass http://backend;
}
}
Should You Block This Bot?
Recommendations based on your website type:
| Site Type | Recommendation | Reasoning |
|---|---|---|
| E-commerce | Allow | Essential for product visibility in search results |
| Blog/News | Allow | Increases content reach and discoverability |
| SaaS Application | Block | No benefit for application interfaces; preserve resources |
| Documentation | Allow | Improves documentation discoverability for developers |
| Corporate Site | Allow | Allow for public pages, block sensitive areas like intranets |
Advanced robots.txt Configurations
E-commerce Site Configuration
User-agent: APIs-Google
Crawl-delay: 5
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /*?sort=
Disallow: /*?filter=
Disallow: /*&page=
Allow: /products/
Allow: /categories/
Sitemap: https://example.com/sitemap.xml
Publishing/Blog Configuration
User-agent: APIs-Google
Crawl-delay: 10
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /drafts/
Disallow: /preview/
Disallow: /*?replytocom=
Allow: /
SaaS/Application Configuration
User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /app/
Disallow: /api/
Disallow: /dashboard/
Disallow: /settings/
Allow: /
Allow: /pricing/
Allow: /features/
Allow: /docs/
Quick Reference
User Agent Match
APIs-Google
Robots.txt Name
APIs-Google
Category
search
Respects robots.txt
May not respect
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