Google-Read-Aloud
Preview BotOperated by Google
Last updated:
Generates link previews when your URLs are shared socially.
Recommended action: Allow access. Blocking breaks social sharing previews.
Category
Preview Bot
Primary use case
Social media link previews
Trust level
Review recommended
Trust Levels
- Trusted
- Generally safe
- Review recommended
- Caution advised
Trust levels are an indication based on category, operator, and robots.txt compliance. Always review bot activity for your specific situation.
Learn how we assess trustrobots.txt
Unknown
Google-Read-Aloud Traffic (Last 90 Days)
What is Google-Read-Aloud?
Fetcher bot
What Google-Read-Aloud means for your site
Every visit from Google-Read-Aloud means someone shared your URL on Google. The bot fetches your page to generate the link preview card (title, image, description) that appears in the conversation or feed. These are valuable visibility signals that traditional analytics miss entirely. High preview bot activity indicates your content is being shared and discussed.
What should you do?
- Allow Google-Read-Aloud, blocking breaks link previews
- Ensure Open Graph meta tags (og:title, og:description, og:image) are set on key pages
- Monitor share patterns to identify which content resonates
- Use BotSights to track social shares that Google Analytics misses
See Google-Read-Aloud on your own site
BotSights tracks every Google-Read-Aloud visit in real time, including which pages it crawls, how often, and from where.
How to identify Google-Read-Aloud
Google-Read-Aloud uses the user-agent "Google-Read-Aloud". It robots.txt compliance unconfirmed.
Google-Read-Aloudgoogle-read-aloudHow to block Google-Read-Aloud
Three robots.txt options below. Pick the one that matches your goal. Each snippet lists every known Google-Read-Aloud user-agent pattern so the rules apply regardless of which one the bot announces. Compliance with robots.txt is unconfirmed for Google-Read-Aloud, so verify with crawl logs after deploying.
Edit robots.txt with care
A single misplaced line can de-index your entire site. Common mistake: pasting User-agent: * followed by Disallow: / blocks every bot, not just Google-Read-Aloud, including Googlebot. Always paste the snippet between existing rules (not over them), keep the User-agent line scoped to Google-Read-Aloud's patterns, and verify with Google's robots.txt tester before deploying. If you are not sure, ask a developer first.
Option 1: Block all access
Tells Google-Read-Aloud not to crawl any URL on your site. Use this when you want the bot completely off your content.
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
User-agent: google-read-aloud
Disallow: /Option 2: Block specific paths only
Keep public content crawlable but exclude sensitive or non-public sections. Add one Disallow: line per path. Replace the example paths with your own.
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
User-agent: google-read-aloud
Disallow: /admin/
Disallow: /private/
Disallow: /checkout/Option 3: Slow down with a crawl delay
Crawl-delay is a voluntary directive that asks the bot to wait the given number of seconds between requests. Useful when Google-Read-Aloud is hammering your origin and slowing the site down for real visitors, but you do not want to block it outright. The value is in seconds, so 10 means at most one request every ten seconds. Not all bots honour this directive (Googlebot ignores it; Bingbot, Yandex, and many AI crawlers do respect it).
User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
User-agent: google-read-aloud
Crawl-delay: 10Frequently Asked Questions
What is the User-Agent for Google-Read-Aloud?
Google-Read-Aloud identifies itself with the User-Agent string "Google-Read-Aloud" (alternate forms: google-read-aloud). This is the signature you will see in server logs when someone shares one of your URLs.
Does a visit from Google-Read-Aloud mean my link was shared?
Yes. Each visit represents a share event on Google — someone either sent your URL in a private chat or posted it publicly. This is real share-volume data that traditional analytics like Google Analytics never see, because the visit happens server-to-server.
Should I block Google-Read-Aloud?
No. Blocking prevents link preview cards from rendering when your URLs are shared on Google. Shared links without preview cards look broken and get fewer clicks. Always allow preview bots.
How do I improve how my link preview looks on Google?
Add Open Graph meta tags to your pages: og:title (max ~60 chars), og:description (max ~155 chars), og:image (recommended 1200×630px PNG/JPEG). For X/Twitter add the twitter:* equivalents. Test with Facebook's Sharing Debugger or LinkedIn Post Inspector.
What image dimensions work best for Google-Read-Aloud?
1200×630 pixels (1.91:1 ratio) is the safest size that renders well on most platforms. Keep file size under 5MB and use PNG or JPEG. Avoid text near the edges since some platforms crop.
Why does my link preview show the wrong image?
Google cache previews aggressively. After updating og:image, use the operator's debugger tool (e.g. Facebook Sharing Debugger, LinkedIn Post Inspector, X Cards Validator) to force a re-fetch, or add a query string to bust the cache.
Does Google-Read-Aloud respect robots.txt?
Compliance with robots.txt is unconfirmed. Most preview bots ignore it by design.
Detect social shares that analytics tools miss
Every visit from Google-Read-Aloud means someone shared your link. BotSights tracks these invisible shares so you know which content resonates.
- See when your links are shared on social platforms
- Track which pages get shared most
- Discover social traffic your analytics can't see
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