---
title: "Fetch as Googlebot: Free Googlebot Simulator"
description: "Free Googlebot simulator: fetch a URL with Googlebot's smartphone or desktop user agent and compare it with Chrome. Status, robots rules, canonical, text."
canonical: "https://browser-use.com/tools/fetch-as-googlebot"
last_updated: "2026-11-06"
---

# Fetch as Googlebot: Free Googlebot Simulator

## Fetch as Googlebot

Fetch a URL as Googlebot and as Chrome, side by side. See what differs: status, redirects, robots rules, canonical, title and text.

## How it works

### Enter a URL

Pick Googlebot Smartphone or Desktop. Our server fetches the page twice: with Googlebot's user agent and with Chrome's, on the same device.

### Read the differences

Rows that differ are marked: status, redirects, X-Robots-Tag, meta robots, canonical, title, words and up to 10 changed text lines.

### Confirm with Google

For Google's own fetch, run Test live URL in Search Console's URL Inspection tool.

### Is this the real Googlebot?

No. We send Googlebot's user agent from our own server. Sites that check Googlebot by reverse DNS or Google's published IP ranges can tell, and may refuse us or answer differently. URL Inspection in Search Console runs Google's own fetch.

Source: [Google: verify requests from Google](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/verify-google-requests) · [Search Console: URL Inspection](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289?hl=en)

### Why would Googlebot get a different page?

Bot protection that refuses unverified bots, pages that vary by user agent, or a hacked site. Google calls it cloaking only when the difference is meant to manipulate rankings, and notes hacked sites often use it. This tool shows the difference, not the intent.

Source: [Google: spam policies](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/essentials/spam-policies)

### Smartphone or desktop?

Smartphone, for most sites: Google indexes them mobile-first. Both crawlers obey the same Googlebot token in robots.txt and read the first 2 MB of an HTML file, uncompressed. The page shows the exact user agent sent.

Source: [Google: Googlebot](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/googlebot) · [Google: crawler user agents](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/crawlers-fetchers/google-common-crawlers)

### Which robots rules count for Google?

Meta tags named robots or googlebot, and X-Robots-Tag lines with no crawler name or named googlebot. Names are case-insensitive and when rules conflict, the more restrictive one applies.

Source: [Google: robots meta tag](https://developers.google.com/search/docs/crawling-indexing/robots-meta-tag)

### What does it fetch?

The URL twice (up to 10 redirects and 2 MB each) and its robots.txt. No cookies, Referer or your IP are sent. Nothing is stored.

Source: [Google: HTTP status codes](https://developers.google.com/crawling/docs/troubleshooting/http-status-codes)

## Need the page after JavaScript runs?

Browser Use agents open pages in a real browser, including dynamic ones, and return structured data.

[See AI web scraping](https://browser-use.com/web-scraping)

Website URLCrawlerGooglebot SmartphoneGooglebot Desktop

Fetch as Googlebot

This request comes from our server with Googlebot's user agent string, not from Google's IP addresses. Sites that verify Googlebot by reverse DNS or Google's IP list may answer differently. For Google's own view, use [URL Inspection](https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/9012289?hl=en) in Search Console. No JavaScript runs.

---

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