Is Google googling me??

[DoctorPhotoshop]

I'm looking at my stats on my website and noticed several hits in the past two days from the webserver "Google" from Mountain View, California. There are various IPs but all say Google: 74.125.75.19, 72.14.192.3, 74.125.16.66, 64.233.172.18. Visit length is anywhere from 0 seconds to 15 hours. What's going on? Are they spying on me? or is it a robot?

[vagrant]

When that happens on my site it is usually someone using "Google Wireless Transcoder" which is a mobile phone access point to view websites not yet optimised for mobile phone use. http://google.com/gwt/n
It will show in your logs as a google IP not the surfers IP.

[digmod]

When that happens on my site it is usually someone using "Google Wireless Transcoder" which is a mobile phone access point to view websites not yet optimised for mobile phone use. http://google.com/gwt/n
It will show in your logs as a google IP not the surfers IP.

So it's very easy for spammers to abuse it, because you never know whose really behind the IP address.

[ManagingDog]

what was their user agent?

[JoinStation]

So it's very easy for spammers to abuse it, because you never know whose really behind the IP address.

Anyone know about this? i have doubt on this area too.

[alphaneterik]

there was a week or so on my blog when mountainview was checking a specific post every hour or so... then it disappeared.. who knows what they are up to over there

[theapparatus]

Anyone know about this? i have doubt on this area too.

Not in a position to go digging but a lot of scripts use the googlebot user agent because they know most webmasters won't block it. (They would be nuts to do so) We seem to see proxies using it mostly.

[Seqqa]

You sure it's not crawlers on your site?

[DoDo Me]

So it's very easy for spammers to abuse it, because you never know whose really behind the IP address.

Google wireless gateway will cache the page, so it will not continually claw your page.

[JJnacy]

When that happens on my site it is usually someone using "Google Wireless Transcoder" which is a mobile phone access point to view websites not yet optimised for mobile phone use. http://google.com/gwt/n
It will show in your logs as a google IP not the surfers IP.

So how to stop your site to be used through "google.com/gwt/n" ?

Thanks

[Designstrike]

When I get the googlebot to stay that long on my blog, I usually get a downgrade in rankings. The old timer is getting lasy :D

[wilderness]

Anyone know about this? i have doubt on this area too.

Google's explanation of reverse DNS (http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/09/how-to-verify-googlebot.html) to confirm their bots

[wilderness]

So how to stop your site to be used through "google.com/gwt/n" ?

Thanks

You may deny specific google ranges and/or UA's (even many of their tools (translator, mobile and many others) WITHOUT any effect upon their normal spidering/index of your website (s) pages.

I've not any saved explanations of the 74.125. Class B.

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^64\.233\.(1[678][0-9]|19[01])\. [OR]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} ^72\.14\.(19[2-9]|2[0-5][0-9])\.
RewriteRule .* - [F]
RewriteCond %{REMOTE_ADDR} !^66\.249\.
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} Googlebot
RewriteRule .* - [F]

In addition there are some SQL Injection weakness' that are being passed through google. Clickfind is one with recent activity.

There are numerous google tools, which are simply not beneficial to your website (s), either in generating new visitors or increasing your SERP's. It's a good idea to learn "who is who" and eliminate the unnecessary.

[wilderness]

BTW, these tool and IP abuses are not exclusive to google. MSN, Yahoo and most others, major SE's (as well as many insignificant SE's) offer IP ranges and UA's that are non-beneficial to your website (s) SERP's.