Google-Extended
21 quoted answers, each with its source
The short answer
Google-Extended controls whether content Google crawls from a site may be used to train future Gemini models and for grounding in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI. It does not affect the site’s inclusion or ranking in Google Search, and it does not remove content from AI Overviews; opting out of AI Overviews requires blocking Googlebot entirely, which would also eliminate the site’s organic search traffic. By July 2026, its documented scope explicitly included grounding, following earlier versions that covered only training.
Every part of this comes from the quotes below. How we write these.
What the rules actually say12
Quoted straight from the people who make or enforce the rules.
Google's crawler documentation states that Google-Extended…
- does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search.
- is not used as a ranking signal in Google Search.
1 quote from 1 source
Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion in Google Search nor is it used as a ranking signal in Google Search.
Google's crawler documentation states that…
- Google-Extended is a standalone product token.
- web publishers can use Google-Extended to manage whether content Google crawls from their sites may be used for training future generations of Gemini models and for grounding.
1 quote from 1 source
Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether content Google crawls from their sites may be used for training future generations of Gemini models that power Gemini Apps and Vertex AI API for Gemini and for grounding (providing content from the Google Search index to the model at prompt time to improve factuality and relevancy) in Gemini Apps and Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI.
- Google-Extended does not have a separate HTTP request user agent string.
- Google-Extended's crawling is done with existing Google user agent strings.
1 quote from 1 source
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 is the tool that Google's Search Console help page for the Search generative AI control directs readers to use to limit training of the models used to generate responses in Search generative AI features.
- Google's Search Console help page for the Search generative AI control, the page that directs readers to use Google-Extended, states that the Search generative AI control doesn't affect AI training.
1 quote from 1 source
This control doesn't affect AI training; to limit training of the models used to generate responses in Search generative AI features, use Google-Extended. To block your content from appearing in Google Search completely, use noindex.
- Google's "AI features and your website" documentation directs readers to Google-Extended.
- The purpose of Google's "AI features and your website" documentation directing readers to Google-Extended is to limit AI training and grounding in some of Google's other systems.
1 quote from 1 source
To limit AI training and grounding in some of Google's other systems, read more about Google-Extended.
- Google-Extended is described as a token to manage whether sites help improve Gemini Apps and Vertex AI generative APIs in an archived September 2024 copy of Google's crawler documentation.
- The archived September 2024 copy of Google's crawler documentation does not mention grounding in its description of Google-Extended.
1 quote from 1 source
Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Gemini Apps and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products. Google-Extended does not impact a site's inclusion or ranking in Google Search.
Changed on2
A dated change. This is where advice quietly stops being true.
- A Google blog post announced Google-Extended.
- Google-Extended is a new control that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Bard and Vertex AI generative APIs.
1 quote from 1 source
Today we’re announcing Google-Extended, a new control that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Bard and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products.
Often said, but we could not find it in the rules7
Lots of people say this. We went looking for an official source that backs it up and could not find one, so treat it as something people repeat rather than something settled.
A page on digitalapplied.com asserts that the distinction between Google-Extended and AI Overviews trips up most publishers.
1 quote from 1 source
Blocking Google-Extended is therefore insufficient to remove you from AI Overviews, a distinction that trips up most publishers.
A guide on zerokit.dev states that for Google-Extended, opting out of AI Overviews entirely…
- is a different and more complex conversation.
- involves the nosnippet meta tag.
1 quote from 1 source
Blocking Google-Extended may reduce how well Gemini understands your content for grounding purposes, but it won't necessarily remove you from AI Overviews. If you want to opt out of AI Overviews entirely, that's a different (and more complex) conversation involving the nosnippet meta tag.
A page on amicited.com asserts that many publishers mistakenly believe blocking Google-Extended will prevent their content from appearing in AI Overviews.
1 quote from 1 source
Many publishers mistakenly believe that blocking Google-Extended will prevent their content from appearing in AI Overviews, but this is fundamentally incorrect.
A page on playwire.com asserts that some publishers report that blocking Google-Extended may affect their appearance in Google's "Grounding with Google Search" feature for Gemini.
1 quote from 1 source
There's a catch here. Some publishers report that blocking Google-Extended may affect their appearance in Google's "Grounding with Google Search" feature for Gemini. This could potentially impact citations to your pages in AI-generated responses.
A page on intrepidonline.com states that…
- to remove content from AI Overviews, a site owner needs to block Googlebot itself and not just Google-Extended.
- blocking Googlebot itself and not just Google-Extended would result in the site no longer ranking.
1 quote from 1 source
Answer: To put it bluntly, there is no easy way to do this without harming your site. To remove your content from AI Overviews, you need to block Googlebot itself (not just Google-Extended), which would result in your site no longer ranking and losing all of your organic traffic from Google.