Okay, so this has to do with Google Ads Bot and Googlebot. The two are bots–one for landing page URLs in a Google Ads program, while Googlebot is used for indexing.
Google’s John Mueller was asked about this at the 7-minute, 26-second mark of the English Google SEO Office-Hours From December 10, 2021.
The video below is queued to that spot:
The situation and question (which I’ve rewritten for clarity) were:
“So we want to ask some questions about Google AdsBots.
“So, do you think that if we disallow Goglebot from accessing our ad URLs (landing page URLs), our Google Ads will be affected?
Is that why our ads won’t work normally?”
So, to my understanding, Googlebot and Google Ad Bot are separate: one is for indexing, the other is more for ad quality.
John Mueller’s response was:
“So as far as I know, the AdsBot doesn’t follow the normal robot text directives.
You have to use the user agent directly for it. But I don’t know what the effect would be on the ad side if you block AdsBot.
“My understanding is we use this as a way to do quality checks for the landing page. I don’t know what that would mean from a quality point of view for ads if you don’t let AdsBot check these pages.”
So, as I said earlier, each bot has slightly different functions.
The participant further clarified her situation:
“The reason we talk about this question is that we’ve recently found that Googlebot crawled our ads URL more than normal page URLs.
“But we want Googlebot to crawl normal product pages instead of these ads [or ad landing pages]. So we’re just wondering if it’s okay to block Googlebot from our ads URL.”
To which, John replied:
Sure, sure, sure. That’s perfectly fine. Blocking the ads landing pages for Googlebot is fine.”
“Again, if you block the ads pages for AdsBot, then that’s something you’d have to check with the ads folks.”
Blocking Googlebot from seeing your landing pages is fine, because you probably only want Google Ads Bot to see your landing page URLs.
Before you can receive free updates, link building strategies or SEO tips you need to confirm your email right now.
(It’s easy)
Just go to your inbox, open the confirmation email from the SIA, and click the link.
And that’s it!
PS: If you don’t see a confirmation email, please check your spam/junk or promotions folders. Sometimes the confirmation message ends up there by mistake.
Obtenez nos 7 études S.I.A. les plus controversées qui feront trembler la tête même les SEO les plus avancés d’incrédulité.
De plus, nous vous alerterons lorsque nous publierons de nouveaux tests au public.
Obtenga nuestros 7 estudios S.I.A. más controvertidos que harán que incluso el SEO más avanzado sacuda la cabeza con incredulidad.
Además, le avisaremos cuando publiquemos nuevas pruebas al público.
Get Our Most 7 Controversial S.I.A. Studies That Will Make Even the Most Advanced SEO Shake Their Head in Disbelief.
Plus we will alert you when we publish new tests to the public.
