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GoogleLive fetcher

Google-NotebookLM

Google-NotebookLM is a superseded name for the Google fetcher that reads a URL when someone adds it as a source in Gemini or NotebookLM.

Google calls this the former user-agent and says support lasts only until August 2026. Use Google-GeminiNotebook for new rules.

Google documentation
robots.txt token
None documented
Follows robots.txt
Not always
How to verify it
Not published
Seen on
Not measured
Last checked
18 August 2026

Should you block Google-NotebookLM?

Usually not. It reads a page only when a person asks Gemini about it, so blocking it hides your page from someone already looking for it.

What blocking each Google bot does
Google botJobIf you block it
Google-ExtendedControl tokenDisallowing it limits future Gemini training and grounding uses covered by the token. Google says it does not affect Search inclusion or ranking.
GooglebotSearchBlocking Googlebot can remove pages from Google Search and eligibility for Google AI features that depend on Search indexing.
Google-AgentUser fetchBlocking it can prevent a Google agent from retrieving a page while completing a user-directed task. It is separate from Google Search crawling.
Google-GeminiNotebookUser fetchA hit usually means a person added your page as a source, not that Google is crawling your site broadly.
Google-NotebookLMThis pageUser fetchGoogle now documents this fetcher as Google-GeminiNotebook. A robots.txt rule naming only the old token may no longer match.
Google-CloudVertexBotOtherA hit usually relates to a configured Vertex AI workflow rather than broad public search crawling.
GoogleOtherOtherBlocking it may affect Google product-specific crawling but is separate from primary Search indexing policy.
GoogleOther-ImageOtherBlocking it can limit image-oriented Google product crawls without targeting regular Googlebot directly.
GoogleOther-VideoOtherBlocking it can limit video-oriented Google product crawls without targeting regular Googlebot directly.

From Google’s documentationGoogle says user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt, because a person asked for the page.

No rule to copy

Google calls this the former user-agent and says it was supported only until August 2026. Write new rules against Google-GeminiNotebook. A made-up rule could match nothing, or the wrong crawler.

Google-NotebookLM access decides whether Google can fetch your pages. Whether those pages get used in generated answers is a separate question, so track your presence in Google's AI results rather than treating crawl volume as visibility.

Also seen under Google’s name, but not in its current documentation: GoogleAgent-Mariner, Gemini-Deep-Research, Google-Gemini-CLI, Google-Firebase. Rules naming them control no documented Google crawler.

Spot it in your logs.

Match the name, then check where the request came from. Anyone can copy a user-agent.

Former fetcher tokensource
Google-NotebookLM

Google says this former name was supported only until August 2026.

  1. 1

    Match the name

    Search your server or CDN log for the name, case-insensitive. A match is a clue, not proof.

  2. 2

    Check the source

    Google publishes no IP ranges, reverse DNS or signatures for Google-NotebookLM in the sources here, so it cannot be verified. Treat matches as unconfirmed.

Serve the content in HTML

The cited operator material does not verify JavaScript rendering. Serve useful HTML before client-side JavaScript where possible.

Questions, answered.

Google-NotebookLM is a superseded name for the Google fetcher that reads a URL when someone adds it as a source in Gemini or NotebookLM.

Sources.

Officially documented. Operator facts and Trakkr’s measurements keep separate dates.

  1. [1]
    Google crawler documentation

    Officially documented · checked 18 August 2026

    developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-user-triggered-fetchers#google-gemininotebook

First verified 18 August 2026. Last source check 18 August 2026.

Changes

Google documented Google-GeminiNotebookGoogle lists Google-GeminiNotebook as the current fetcher and Google-NotebookLM as the former name supported until August 2026.
All AI crawlers

See which AI crawlers read your site.

Trakkr shows which bots, Google-NotebookLM included, visit which pages each day, and whether the answers they feed mention you.

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