Google-InspectionTool is a Google crawler used by testing tools for Search, including the Rich Results Test and the URL Inspection tool in Search Console. Google lists it among its common crawlers.
At a glance
- Operator
- Purpose
- Search testing tools (Rich Results Test, URL Inspection)
- robots.txt token
Google-InspectionToolorGooglebot- Respects robots.txt
- Yes, when crawling automatically
Last checked:
What does it do?
When someone runs a live test in the URL Inspection tool, Google says the tool fetches and examines the URL in real time. The help page names Google-InspectionTool as the crawler for such tests. The field “Crawled as” shows whether the desktop or smartphone user agent was used.
Google names Google-InspectionTool or Googlebot as robots.txt token. Google documents a desktop and a mobile user agent that both contain the string Google-InspectionTool/1.0.
Mozilla/5.0 (compatible; Google-InspectionTool/1.0)
The live test does not check every possible indexing issue. According to the help page, it cannot tell whether a page is a duplicate or an alternate version and does not detect manual actions.
| Crawler | robots.txt token | Purpose | Effect of blocking on Google Search | Shows up in logs as |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Googlebot Smartphone | Googlebot | Crawling for Google Search (incl. Discover), Images, Video, News; main crawler for most sites | pages are no longer crawled for Search | Googlebot/ with an Android identifier |
| Googlebot Desktop | Googlebot | same as Smartphone, simulates a desktop user | same as Smartphone (shared token, cannot be blocked separately) | Googlebot/ without a mobile identifier |
| Storebot-Google | Storebot-Google | Shopping: product discovery and indexing | affects Shopping surfaces incl. the Shopping tab in Search | Storebot-Google/ |
| GoogleOther | GoogleOther | generic crawler for product teams, e.g. one-off research and development crawls | doesn't affect any specific product, says Google | GoogleOther |
| Google-InspectionTool (this term) | Google-InspectionTool, Googlebot | Testing tools: Rich Results Test, URL Inspection in Search Console | none (affects only the testing tools) | Google-InspectionTool/ |
| Google-CloudVertexBot | Google-CloudVertexBot, Googlebot | Crawls requested by the site owner for Vertex AI Agents | none | Google-CloudVertexBot |
| Google-Extended | Google-Extended | Controls whether content is used for Gemini training and grounding | none; Google says it doesn't affect inclusion in Search and isn't a ranking signal | not at all (no user agent string of its own) |
Googlebot Smartphone and Desktop share the Googlebot token and cannot be targeted separately in robots.txt. Google says most Googlebot requests come from the mobile crawler. Google-Extended is a control token only; crawling uses existing Google user agents. All crawlers listed here are Google common crawlers, which always respect robots.txt for automatic crawls. Sources: Google: Google's common crawlers (last updated 2026-07-14); Google: Overview of Google crawlers and fetchers (last updated 2026-06-12); Google Search Central: Googlebot (last updated 2026-02-03). Last checked: .
In logfiles
Requests with this user agent come from tests that someone with access to Search Console or the testing tool started. They are not part of regular Googlebot crawling, so it makes sense to look at them separately (assessment).
Example
An SEO runs a live test for a new product page and the server log records one request from Google-InspectionTool. Further requests from the same IP range follow only when someone starts another test. (Invented example.)
Sources
- Google's common crawlers – Google Crawling Infrastructuredevelopers.google.com
- URL Inspection tool – Search Console Helpsupport.google.com
- Search Console URL Inspection Tool – Bridging Points Media (secondary)bridgingpointsmedia.com
Last updated: