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GPTBot can appear in WordPress or server access logs because OpenAI identifies it as a web crawler with an HTTP user-agent. Google-Extended is not a separate HTTP visitor identity: Google says it has no distinct request user-agent string. It is a control token used in robots.txt, so you should not expect to find a separate Google-Extended entry in a request log.
Why GPTBot can appear in a log
An HTTP request can include a user-agent string identifying the software making the request. OpenAI documents GPTBot as a crawler and gives an example user-agent containing GPTBot/1.4. That example version can change, so treat it as an illustration rather than a value every GPTBot request must use. See OpenAI’s overview of its crawlers.
OpenAI says GPTBot crawls content that may be used to train its generative AI foundation models. A request whose user-agent contains “GPTBot” may therefore show up in access logs that capture that request. The label is a claimed identity, however—not proof that the request came from OpenAI.
Why Google-Extended does not appear as a separate visitor
Google-Extended is a robots.txt control token, not a distinct HTTP user-agent. Google explicitly says, “Google-Extended doesn’t have a separate HTTP request user agent string.” Google crawls with its existing user-agent identities; Google-Extended governs certain uses of content Google crawls. See Google’s documentation on common crawlers.
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That means a search for the literal string Google-Extended in access logs is not a way to identify Google’s crawl requests. To inspect a Google request, look at the actual user-agent in the request. Google documents that Googlebot subtype can be identified from the HTTP user-agent header.
What the two labels control
| Question | GPTBot | Google-Extended |
|---|---|---|
| What kind of identifier is it? | OpenAI crawler with an HTTP user-agent identity. | Robots.txt control token; not a separate HTTP user-agent. |
| What might appear in a request log? | A request may carry user-agent text identifying GPTBot. | No separate Google-Extended request identity is expected; Google uses its existing user-agent strings. |
| What documented purpose does it serve? | Content may be crawled for potential use in training OpenAI foundation models. | Controls certain uses of Google-crawled content for Gemini training and grounding. |
OpenAI distinguishes GPTBot from two other labels publishers may encounter. OAI-SearchBot is used to surface websites in ChatGPT search, and OpenAI says its settings are independent of GPTBot’s. ChatGPT-User is used for certain user-triggered page visits; OpenAI says it is not automatic web crawling, and robots.txt rules may not apply to those visits. For Search opt-outs and automatic search crawling, OpenAI points to OAI-SearchBot. These distinctions are described in OpenAI’s crawler documentation.
Google-Extended can control whether crawled content is used for training future Gemini generations and for grounding in Gemini Apps and Vertex AI. Google says it does not affect inclusion in Google Search and is not a Search ranking signal. The token therefore concerns permitted content uses, not whether Googlebot has visited or indexed a page.
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1Fix the driver behind crashes, sound loss and screen glitches2Repair Windows errors before they cause bigger problems3Scan for outdated or missing drivers - takes under a minuteHow to interpret these entries in WordPress logs
WordPress may be only one part of the request-recording chain. Depending on a site’s setup, requests may be logged by the origin web server, a reverse proxy, a CDN, a security service, or a WordPress plugin, and those records may not contain the same traffic. A missing entry in one log does not establish that no crawler fetched the page; a present entry does not, by itself, establish who sent the request.
- If you see
GPTBot, treat it as a user-agent claim. Where attribution matters, compare the source IP with OpenAI’s published GPTBot IP data. - If you are looking for Google crawling, inspect the actual Google user-agent rather than expecting the string
Google-Extended. - Keep robots.txt policy separate from log interpretation: Google-Extended is a control token, not a crawler label that must appear in an access log.
- For a specific site, check the logs at the layer that actually records requests and account for filtering, proxy/CDN behavior, and retention.
How to verify a claimed Google crawler
A user-agent alone is not authentication. Google warns that “The HTTP user agent string can be spoofed.” It recommends verifying a Google crawler with a reverse DNS lookup or by comparing the source IP with Google’s published crawler IP ranges. Google describes the verification process and crawler identities in its Googlebot documentation and common-crawlers reference. OpenAI also publishes GPTBot IP addresses in its crawler documentation. Vendor user-agent examples and IP lists can change, so consult the current documentation when checking a live request.
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