Feedfetcher-Google — feed fetcher
Feedfetcher-Google is the user agent Google uses to fetch RSS and Atom feeds for Google products. Google documents that Feedfetcher is not used for indexing, and that because feed fetches are user-requested subscriptions, it is handled differently from indexing crawlers.
What this means
Feedfetcher-Google is the user agent Google uses to fetch RSS and Atom feeds for Google products. Google documents that Feedfetcher is not used for indexing — it retrieves feeds for delivery, generally because a user has subscribed to them.
That means Feedfetcher-Google hits reflect feed consumption rather than Search crawling. Counting them toward indexing analysis would misread your crawl picture.
How robots.txt applies
Because Feedfetcher fetches feeds on behalf of users rather than crawling for indexing, Google documents that its handling of robots.txt differs from ordinary crawlers. Consult Google's crawler documentation for the current specifics rather than assuming standard indexing-crawler behaviour. Verify via Google's reverse-DNS and IP methods where authenticity matters.
- User-agent token: Feedfetcher-Google
- Fetches RSS/Atom feeds, not for indexing
- robots.txt handling differs — see Google's documentation
How it appears in analytics and logs
A request carrying the Feedfetcher-Google token is Google retrieving an RSS or Atom feed for a Google product, typically because a user subscribed to it. It is a bot event tied to feed delivery, not search indexing and not a human page view.
Diagnostic use case
Recognise Feedfetcher-Google hits as feed retrieval, not indexing, and understand why robots.txt behaves differently for it.
What WebmasterID can help detect
WebmasterID classifies Feedfetcher-Google server-side as search-infrastructure activity and shows it separately from human traffic, so feed fetches are visible without log parsing.
Common mistakes
- Treating Feedfetcher-Google hits as indexing crawl activity.
- Assuming it follows the same robots.txt behaviour as indexing crawlers.
- Counting feed fetches as human visits.
Privacy and accuracy notes
Identification uses the user agent plus Google's verification methods — no human identity. WebmasterID records Feedfetcher-Google as a bot event, separate from human analytics.
Related pages
- Googlebot-News — Google News crawling
Googlebot-News is the user agent that governs crawling for Google News. Google documents it as relying on Googlebot for actual crawling, with the Googlebot-News token letting publishers control Google News inclusion separately from general Search.
- Search crawlers vs SEO crawlers
Search-engine crawlers like Googlebot and Bingbot build the indexes that determine search visibility. Third-party SEO crawlers like AhrefsBot and SemrushBot feed analysis tools and do not affect rankings directly. Distinguishing them matters for crawl-budget reasoning and for deciding what to allow or limit.
- Bot intelligence
See search-engine crawlers separated from human traffic.
Sources and verification notes
- Google — Google crawlers (user agents) overviewDocuments Feedfetcher-Google and that it is not used for indexing.
Last reviewed 2026-06-24. Facts are checked against primary/official sources where available; uncertain specifics are marked “Data not yet verified” rather than guessed.