Google-Read-Aloud (Google): what it is and how to allow or block it

Updated 2026-10-30 · checked against the operator's documentation on 2026-10-30

Google-Read-Aloud is Google's fetcher that reads a web page aloud when a user asks. Verify it by Google's reverse DNS; robots.txt generally does not block it, per Google. Google documents no robots.txt token for it; the name in its user agent is Google-Read-Aloud.

Facts

Operator: Google

Category: Special-purpose crawler

robots.txt token: Google-Read-AloudGoogle documents no robots.txt token for it; this is the name in its user agent.

Honors robots.txt?: Generally ignored (user-triggered), per Google. Google says its user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules, and lists no robots.txt token for Google Read Aloud.

User-agent example: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; Linux x86_64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/137.0.0.0 Safari/537.36 (compatible; Google-Read-Aloud; +https://support.google.com/webmasters/answer/1061943)

Official source: Google: List of user-triggered fetchers

Compared with the source: 2026-10-30

What it is used for

Per Google, upon user request Google Read Aloud fetches and reads out web pages using text-to-speech (TTS). Its former user agent, google-speakr, is deprecated.

Not the crawler behind a search index. What blocking it changes is specific to its tool, so read the next section.

What happens if you block it

Per Google, user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt, so a robots.txt rule may not stop a page from being read aloud on request.

Google documents a desktop and a mobile user agent; both contain Google-Read-Aloud. The mobile one starts with an Android Chrome string.

Is it really Google-Read-Aloud?

Anyone can send Google-Read-Aloud as a user agent, so a log line proves nothing by itself. The way to tell is the requesting IP address.

Compare the IP address with the Google: Verify Google requests (links the user-triggered fetcher IP files). A request from outside those ranges is not the operator's crawler.
Google documents reverse DNS names of the form ***-***-***-***.gae.googleusercontent.com (Google-owned fetchers) or google-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com (user-owned fetchers) for its user-triggered fetchers, to be confirmed by a forward lookup.
Guide: Googlebot and robots.txt: the token, the rules, and how to verify a request.
Guide: Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners: what hit our new server in 48 hours.
Guide: Do ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini obey your robots.txt? What operators document, and a test for your logs.
Paste any user agent from your logs into the user-agent lookup, or follow the scripts in Fake Googlebots and PHP scanners.

How to allow or block Google-Read-Aloud

Add one of these groups to the robots.txt at the root of your domain. A group that names the bot overrides a general User-agent: * group.

Google names no robots.txt token for Google-Read-Aloud, so these groups use the name from its user agent and may have no effect. Google says its user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules, and lists no robots.txt token for Google Read Aloud.

Allow Google-Read-Aloud

User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
Allow: /

Block Google-Read-Aloud

User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud
Disallow: /

Does your site allow Google-Read-Aloud today? The checker evaluates your robots.txt for this and every other bot.Check my site

What we see on this site

No request identifying as Google-Read-Aloud has been recorded since 19 Oct, so there is nothing to show yet. We never fill this in with estimates.

Counts come from this site's own server; they hold no IP addresses or URLs, and a user agent is only a claim. See the bot traffic data and the methodology.

Questions about Google-Read-Aloud

What is Google-Read-Aloud?

Google's fetcher that loads a web page on a user's request and reads it out with text-to-speech. Per Google, upon user request Google Read Aloud fetches and reads out web pages using text-to-speech (TTS). Its former user agent, google-speakr, is deprecated.

Is Google-Read-Aloud safe and legitimate?

The real Google-Read-Aloud is a special-purpose crawler run by Google. A user-agent string is only a claim, though, so anyone can send it. Compare the requesting IP address with the published IP ranges. Google documents reverse DNS names of the form ***-***-***-***.gae.googleusercontent.com (Google-owned fetchers) or google-proxy-***-***-***-***.google.com (user-owned fetchers) for its user-triggered fetchers, to be confirmed by a forward lookup.

Does Google-Read-Aloud obey robots.txt?

Generally ignored (user-triggered), per Google. Google says its user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules, and lists no robots.txt token for Google Read Aloud.

How do I block Google-Read-Aloud?

Robots.txt may not stop it. Google says its user-triggered fetchers generally ignore robots.txt rules, and lists no robots.txt token for Google Read Aloud. If you add a group anyway, use User-agent: Google-Read-Aloud followed by Disallow: /.

Will blocking Google-Read-Aloud hurt my Google rankings or AI visibility?

It is not the crawler behind Google's Search index; it fetches pages for text-to-speech on a user's request. Per Google, such fetchers generally ignore robots.txt.

Other Special-purpose crawlers

All Special-Purpose Crawlers · Bot directory · Bots from Google · Which bots to allow or block · robots.txt generator · See a page as a bot