GoogleMessages
recommended: observeGoogleMessages is Google's fetcher that retrieves web page metadata to generate link previews for URLs shared in Google Messages.
What it does
GoogleMessages usually makes a single request within seconds of a URL being shared, without crawling further. Traffic rises and falls with sharing activity, so a widely circulated link can produce a sharp burst of fetches.
How to identify it
User-agent contains any of:
GoogleMessages
Example user-agent string:
GoogleMessagesHow to verify it's genuine
Reverse-DNS the visiting IP; a genuine request resolves to a hostname ending in:
***-***-***-***.gae.googleusercontent.comgoogle-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com
Then forward-resolve that hostname back to the same IP (forward-confirmed rDNS) to defeat spoofing.
robots.txt
Well-behaved crawlers honor robots.txt. To control GoogleMessages:
Allow full access
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Allow: /Block entirely
User-agent: GoogleMessages
Disallow: /
Grey-area scrapers ignore robots.txt. Botscope enforces your policy at the edge or origin regardless —
see how →
See GoogleMessages on your own site
Botscope shows every bot and AI agent hitting your site — and lets you allow, challenge, or block each one. Observe first, enforce when you're ready.
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