How to Block Gemini

Complete guide to blocking Gemini (Google) from crawling your website using robots.txt, server configuration, and Switch workflows.

Operated by GoogleAI Assistants

Should You Block Gemini?

Blocking Gemini prevents your content from appearing in Google's AI-generated answers. Each visit from this agent represents a real user asking about your content.

Consider allowing Gemini for visibility, or use Switch to serve agent-optimized markdown content instead of blocking entirely.

Blocking Methods

1robots.txt

High for cooperative crawlers

Add a Disallow rule for Gemini's user-agent string in your robots.txt file. This is the standard, cooperative method that well-behaved crawlers respect.

2Server-side UA filtering

High

Configure your web server (nginx, Apache, Cloudflare) to reject requests matching Gemini's user-agent patterns. This blocks at the network level before your application processes the request.

3Switch Journey Workflows

Highest — granular, real-time control

Create a custom journey in Switch that detects Gemini and routes it to a block action, challenge, redirect, or modified content — without touching your server configuration.

robots.txt — Block Gemini

Add the following to your robots.txt file (at the root of your domain) to block Gemini:

User-agent: Google-Safety
Disallow: /

User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot
Disallow: /

User-agent: Gemini-Deep-Research
Disallow: /

robots.txt — Allow with Restrictions

Alternatively, allow Gemini on most pages while blocking specific directories:

User-agent: Google-Safety
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /

User-agent: Google-CloudVertexBot
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /

User-agent: Gemini-Deep-Research
Disallow: /private/
Allow: /

Gemini User-Agent Strings

Use these patterns to identify Gemini in your server logs or firewall rules:

Google-Safety
Google-CloudVertexBot
Gemini-Deep-Research

Frequently Asked Questions

Does blocking Gemini affect my Google search rankings?

No. Blocking Gemini does not affect your Google search rankings. Only blocking Googlebot impacts Google Search visibility.

Does Gemini respect robots.txt?

Yes, Gemini respects robots.txt directives. Adding a Disallow rule for its user-agent will prevent it from crawling blocked paths.

Can I allow Gemini on some pages but not others?

Yes. Use robots.txt to disallow specific directories, or use Switch journey workflows for granular page-level control with conditional logic.

Go beyond robots.txt

Switch detects Gemini in real-time and lets you build custom journey workflows — block, challenge, redirect, or serve modified content. No server changes required.

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