Google · AI answers
Google-NotebookLM
The fetcher behind NotebookLM-style answer workflows. Discovery here means your page can be loaded into a notebook and cited as a source.
- Operator
- Traffic type
- AI answers
- Verification
- User-agent + IP range
- robots.txt
- Usually honors robots.txt
Usually means: Live fetches when someone asks an assistant a question. If these bots cannot reach the page, you cannot be the citation in that answer.
User-agent
robots.txt and most WAF rules match the token, not the full Mozilla string. Operators often wrap Google-NotebookLM in extra product or version text.
Google-NotebookLM
What Google-NotebookLM does
Google-NotebookLM retrieves pages a user or workflow added as source material. It is a user-triggered read, not Google Search indexing.
How to get discovered
Allow the token, serve a stable URL with readable article HTML, and avoid interstitials. Notebook-style products prefer clean documents over app shells.
Why Google-NotebookLM might skip you
The URL requires a session cookie, returns a marketing popup overlay as the only HTML, or is blocked as an AI crawler at Cloudflare while Googlebot still passes.
robots.txt rule
Allow this token on public pages you want retrieved or cited. A CDN “Block AI bots” toggle can still 403 it after robots.txt says Allow.
# Keep Google-NotebookLM eligible to fetch this site
User-agent: Google-NotebookLM
Allow: /Allowlist so Google-NotebookLM can reach you
A user-agent is spoofable. Google publishes current CIDR ranges as JSON — fetch that file for WAF/CDN allowlists instead of copying ranges from a blog. Ranges rotate; a screenshot of ten prefixes will go stale. If Cloudflare “Block AI bots” is on, this is the list that gets the real crawler through.
https://developers.google.com/static/search/apis/ipranges/user-triggered-fetchers.json ↗
Sources
JavaScript: render behavior is not documented.
Other Google bots
Training, search, and user-fetch tokens from the same operator are not interchangeable. Allow the discovery path even when you opt out of training.
Google-NotebookLM FAQ
What is Google-NotebookLM?
Google-NotebookLM retrieves pages a user or workflow added as source material. It is a user-triggered read, not Google Search indexing.
Should I allow Google-NotebookLM in robots.txt?
Yes if you want Google to be able to fetch and cite this site. Blocking Google-NotebookLM is how pages stay invisible to that product even when Googlebot still crawls them.
How do I know a request is really Google-NotebookLM?
A user-agent is a claim anyone can send. Match the Google-NotebookLM token, then check the source IP against Google’s published ranges. Use those ranges as a WAF allowlist so a “Block AI bots” rule does not 403 the real crawler.
Letting Google-NotebookLM in is the start. Getting cited is the job.
Rankealo checks whether AI crawlers can reach you, then publishes pages built to be retrieved and quoted in ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini.
