# Googlebot-News

Googlebot-News is the directive used to control which content on a publisher's site is submitted to Google News. While the crawling itself is now done by the main Googlebot, the `Googlebot-News` user-agent in a `robots.txt` file gives news publishers specific control over their content's inclusion in the news service. For publishers, being included in Google News can be a major driver of visibility and traffic for timely articles.

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## What is Googlebot-News?

Googlebot-News is a specialized user-agent identifier used by Google to discover and index content for its Google News service. Although it was once a distinct crawler, Google has since consolidated its news crawling into the primary Googlebot. However, Google continues to honor the `Googlebot-News` directive in `robots.txt` files, giving publishers granular control over which of their content is considered for Google News, separate from regular search results. This allows publishers to manage their presence in the news ecosystem specifically.


## Why is my site being crawled for Google News?

If Google is crawling your site for news content (which is now done by the main Googlebot), it is because Google is evaluating your content for inclusion in the Google News service. The crawler is specifically looking for recent news articles, press releases, and other journalistic content that meets Google's News content policies. The frequency of visits is typically high for sites that publish breaking news, as the service aims to be as up-to-date as possible. This is a beneficial crawling activity that can significantly boost a publisher's visibility.


## What is the purpose of Googlebot-News?

The purpose of the Googlebot-News directive and the associated crawling is to build and maintain the content index for Google News, a specialized news aggregation service. It focuses exclusively on journalistic content, organizing stories by topic and presenting diverse perspectives on current events. For publishers, inclusion in Google News can drive a substantial amount of traffic, especially for time-sensitive articles, and can significantly broaden a publication's audience reach.


## How do I block Googlebot-News?

If you are a news publisher and you wish to prevent your content from being included in Google News, you can use a specific rule in your `robots.txt` file. This will not affect your site's visibility in regular Google Search results.

To block your content from Google News, add the following lines to your `robots.txt` file:

```
User-agent: Googlebot-News
Disallow: /
```


## Related agents and operators


## Canonical

Human friendly, reader version of this article is available at [Googlebot-News](https://plainsignal.com/agents/googlebot-news)

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