Google API

Safe Block: No Verified robots.txt: No

APIs-Google is the user agent used by Google APIs to deliver push notification messages. Application developers can request these notifications to avoid the need for continually polling Google's servers to find out if the resources they are interested in have changed. To make sure nobody abuses this service, Google requires developers to prove that they own the domain before allowing them to register a URL with a domain as the location where they want to receive messages.

Key facts

Operator: Google
Family: Google
Purpose: Unknown
User-Agent: APIs-Google
Should you block it?: No
Verified: Yes
Respects robots.txt: No
Identity type: Unknown
Confidence: Medium
Last verified: 2026-04-01
Last checked: 2026-04-01

Bot details

Identity

User-Agent: APIs-Google
robots.txt token: APIs-Google
HTTP user-agent: APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html)
Aliases: Google API push notification agent

Ownership

Operator: Google
Family: Google
Type: Unknown
Purpose: Unknown

Verification and trust

Source type: Unknown
Confidence: Medium
Last verified: 2026-04-01
Last checked: 2026-04-01
Verification: Validate the identifying user-agent or signature against the operator documentation before creating hard allow rules.
Operator URL: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943?hl=en
Source URL: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943?hl=en
Spoofing risk: User-agent strings can be spoofed. For allow-listing or low-friction rules, pair the published identifier with operator documentation or cryptographic verification when available.

Blocking and detection

Robots

User-agent: APIs-Google
Disallow: /

Cloudflare

(http.user_agent contains "APIs-Google")

Advanced server rules

Apache

RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} APIs\-Google [NC]
RewriteRule ^ - [F,L]

Nginx

if ($http_user_agent ~* "APIs-Google") { return 403; }

Notes

Application developers can request these notifications to avoid the need for continually polling Google’s servers to find out if the resources they are interested in have changed. To make sure nobody abuses this service, Google requires developers to prove that they own the domain before allowing them to register a URL with a domain as the location where they want to receive messages.

Known user-agent patterns: APIs-Google Known user-agent strings: APIs-Google (+https://developers.google.com/webmasters/APIs-Google.html) Robots.txt handling in the directory: no.

Operator documentation: https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943?hl=en

Evidence and source

Validate the identifying user-agent or signature against the operator documentation before creating hard allow rules.
APIs-Google is the user agent used by Google APIs to deliver push notification messages. Application developers can request these notifications to avoid the need for continually polling Google's servers to find out if the resources they are interested in have changed. To make sure nobody abuses this service, Google requires developers to prove that they own the domain before allowing them to register a URL with a domain as the location where they want to receive messages.
User-agent strings can be spoofed. For allow-listing or low-friction rules, pair the published identifier with operator documentation or cryptographic verification when available.

https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943?hl=en