Google has updated its documentation for the Google-Extended user agent, offering publishers enhanced control over how their site data is utilized by Google Gemini and Vertex AI.
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This revision clarifies that Google-Extended does not serve as a ranking signal in Google Search, ensuring that publishers can manage AI training and grounding without impacting their search visibility.
Enhanced Instructions for Google-Extended
Responding to feedback from publishers, Google has refined the guidance surrounding the Google-Extended user agent to provide clearer and more detailed information on its functionality and implications.
Previous Documentation
Earlier documentation outlined the role of Google-Extended in managing content usage for AI models.
“Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether their sites help improve Gemini Apps and Vertex AI generative APIs, including future generations of models that power those products.
Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI does not use web pages for grounding that have disallowed Google-Extended.”
Revised Documentation
The newly updated version provides a more comprehensive and straightforward explanation of the user agent’s purpose and the consequences of blocking it.
“Google-Extended is a standalone product token that web publishers can use to manage whether content Google crawls from their sites may be used for training future generations of Gemini models that power Gemini Apps and Vertex AI API for Gemini and for grounding (providing content from the Google Search index to the model at prompt time to improve factuality and relevancy) in Gemini Apps and Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI.”
Clarifying Google-Extended’s Role in Search Rankings
An important update distinguishes the function of Google-Extended from search ranking mechanisms, ensuring publishers that their search standings remain unaffected by their choices regarding AI data usage.
Previous Statement
Previously, the documentation did not explicitly address the relationship between Google-Extended and search rankings.
“Google-Extended does not impact a site’s inclusion or ranking in Google Search.”
New Clarification
The revised text explicitly states that Google-Extended is not linked to how search rankings are determined.
“Google-Extended does not impact a site’s inclusion in Google Search nor is it used as a ranking signal in Google Search.”
Grounding refers to the use of web and knowledge base data to enhance the accuracy and relevance of responses generated by large language models, thereby reducing inaccuracies.
Aligning Documentation Across Platforms
The revisions ensure consistency between the updated Google-Extended documentation and other informational resources provided by Google.
Matching Search Central Guidance
A comparison with Google Search Central highlights the alignment in how Google-Extended is presented in relation to search visibility.
“Google-Extended is not a method for managing how your content appears in Google Search.
Instead, use other methods to manage your content in Search, such as robots.txt or other robot controls.”
This consistency reinforces the separation between Google-Extended functionalities and search indexing or ranking controls.
The Bottom Line
Google’s latest update to the Google-Extended documentation provides publishers with clearer options for managing their data usage in AI training and grounding without affecting their search rankings.
This revision maintains consistency across Google’s platforms, reinforcing that Google-Extended operates independently of search visibility and ranking factors.
