What is GoogleImages?

GoogleImages is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Google.

Bot name
GoogleImages
Operator
Google
Type
Bot
Respects robots.txt
Yes
robots.txt user agent
Googlebot-Image
Signs requests (Web Bot Auth)
No

About GoogleImages

The Google Images bot is the search engine crawler for Google Images Search.

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

GoogleImages user agent

GoogleImages identifies itself with this user agent string:

  • Googlebot-Image/1.0

Anyone can copy a user agent string. Transfon Security also checks where each request comes from, so a request that claims to be a known crawler but comes from the wrong network is treated as a fake, not as the real crawler.

How to block GoogleImages in robots.txt

GoogleImages follows robots.txt, so these rules stop it crawling the paths you choose. robots.txt is a plain text file at the root of your domain, such as https://example.com/robots.txt.

Block GoogleImages from the whole site

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /

Block GoogleImages from some folders

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /search

Allow GoogleImages only on some folders

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Allow: /blog/
Disallow: /

Allow GoogleImages and block other crawlers

User-agent: Googlebot-Image
Allow: /

User-agent: *
Disallow: /

Things to know

  • Each host needs its own file. Rules on www.example.com do not apply to shop.example.com.
  • A crawler obeys only the most specific group that names it. Once you add a User-agent: Googlebot-Image group, GoogleImages ignores your User-agent: * rules, so repeat any that should still apply.
  • The user agent name is not case sensitive. We take Googlebot-Image from GoogleImages's user agent; check Google's own documentation if it publishes a different robots.txt name.
  • Crawlers cache robots.txt, so changes can take up to a day to apply. Disallow stops crawling but does not remove pages already collected or indexed.

Limits of robots.txt

  1. GoogleImages may not follow the rule. GoogleImages says it follows robots.txt, but nothing enforces that. Changes can take a day to apply, the operator can change its policy, and other crawlers from Google use different names and rules.
  2. The user agent could be fake. robots.txt matches the name a request claims. Anyone can send GoogleImages's user agent, and a scraper using it is not bound by Google's robots.txt policy. Only checking the source network tells a real GoogleImages from a fake one.

Treat robots.txt as a statement of your policy, and enforce it where requests arrive.

Who should care about GoogleImages

Publishers

GoogleImages brings search traffic, so keep the real one allowed. Fake GoogleImages requests are a common cover for scrapers, so verify it by network rather than by name.

Transfon Security for publishers

Media buyers and advertisers

Search crawlers fetch landing pages to check them. Keep GoogleImages allowed, but out of campaign and conversion data.

Transfon Security for advertisers

E-commerce

GoogleImages indexes products for search results. Allow it, and block impersonators that use its name to scrape prices.

Transfon Security for e-commerce

SaaS and APIs

Allow GoogleImages on marketing and docs pages, and keep it off signed-in app pages it cannot use.

Transfon Security for SaaS and APIs

Block GoogleImages with Transfon Security

robots.txt is a request, not an enforcement. Transfon Security shows GoogleImages by name in the Top Bots report, so you can see how often it visits and which pages it reads. Block or allow it with a User Agent rule, or slow it down with a rate limit decision rule.

Transfon Security

Control GoogleImages on your site

  • See every GoogleImages visit and the pages it reads
  • Spot bots that fake trusted crawler names
  • Block, allow or rate limit GoogleImages with one rule
  • Works with or without robots.txt support

Frequently asked questions

What is GoogleImages?

GoogleImages is a bot in the search engine crawlers category, operated by Google. The Google Images bot is the search engine crawler for Google Images Search.

Does GoogleImages respect robots.txt?

Yes. GoogleImages follows robots.txt, so a Disallow rule for the Googlebot-Image user agent stops it from crawling the paths you list.

How do I block GoogleImages?

Add "User-agent: Googlebot-Image" followed by "Disallow: /" to the robots.txt file at the root of your site. To enforce it, block requests whose user agent contains "Googlebot-Image" at your WAF. In Transfon Security that is one User Agent block rule.

Is robots.txt enough to block GoogleImages?

No. robots.txt is voluntary, so GoogleImages may not follow it, and anyone can send GoogleImages's user agent, so a fake GoogleImages ignores your rule. Enforce the rule where requests arrive, at your WAF, and check the source network.

Should I block GoogleImages?

Search engine crawlers index your pages so they can appear in search results. Keep the genuine ones allowed and verify them, because fake search crawlers are one of the most common disguises for scrapers.

Related bots

All search engine crawlers · Full bot directory

See Which Bots Visit Your Site

Transfon Security identifies every bot in this directory in your traffic reports, flags fake search crawlers, and lets you allow, block or rate limit each bot.

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