In short. Gemini can use Google Search results to ground responses, while Google-Extended controls specified training and grounding uses of website content.

Definition: Gemini is Google's AI assistant, available through services Google calls Gemini Apps. Some responses use Google Search results as supporting information and may display links to public websites.

Key facts

As of 17 October 2026, Google's documentation describes the following behaviour:

Google's Gemini Apps Privacy Hub includes the web app at gemini.google.com and mobile apps on Android and iOS within Gemini Apps.
Google's source-link help page places the Sources button below a response or inline when sources are available.
Google's crawler reference describes Google-Extended as a publisher control covering future Gemini model training and grounding in Gemini Apps.
Google's Search documentation identifies AI Overviews and AI Mode as features within Google Search, with Googlebot controlling crawling for Search.

How does Gemini use web information?

Grounding means supplying a model with external information when it answers a prompt. Google's crawler reference describes grounding in Gemini Apps as providing content from the Google Search index to the model at prompt time. An index is the collection of content a search engine maintains for retrieval.

Google's Privacy Hub states that some Gemini responses are grounded on Search results. Its definition of Gemini Apps includes the web and mobile applications. The crawler reference also names the Gemini models powering those applications, distinguishing the underlying models from the services people use.

For website analysis, the product name matters. Google's AI features guide sets eligibility conditions for supporting links in AI Overviews and AI Mode: the page must be indexed and eligible for a snippet in Google Search. Those conditions belong to the Search features covered by that guide.

How can a website owner inspect Gemini's links?

Google's source-link instructions explain that selecting Sources opens a side panel containing relevant links. The linked material can include public websites, uploaded files, or connected Google Workspace documents and emails. A link therefore needs inspection before it is recorded as a reference to a public website.

The same instructions describe specific attribution cases. When Gemini quotes a large amount of text from a webpage directly, the sources list links to that page. An image taken from the web also has a source link. Google states that some responses contain no source or related links.

These distinctions give a website owner concrete elements to inspect: the response text and the destination reached through its Sources panel. A related link and an explicitly attributed quotation describe different relationships between the answer and a page.

What does Google-Extended control?

A robots.txt file communicates website access rules to automated crawlers. Google's crawler reference documents Google-Extended as a product token used in that file. Its example contains a path-specific exception:

user-agent: Google-Extended
allow: /archive/1Q84
disallow: /archive/

The documented scope includes content use for training future Gemini models and grounding in Gemini Apps and Grounding with Google Search on Vertex AI. Google-Extended has no separate HTTP request user-agent string; Google uses its existing crawler user-agent strings to fetch content.

Google's reference states that Google-Extended has no effect on inclusion or ranking in Google Search. Its Search guide assigns Search crawling controls to Googlebot and describes snippet and indexing controls for limiting content displayed in Search. A publisher therefore needs to identify the affected product before changing an access rule.

FAQ

Where can I find a website linked in a Gemini response?

Use the Sources button below or within the response. Google's help page says it opens a side panel with relevant links when sources are available.

Does blocking Google-Extended remove my site from Google Search?

Google's crawler reference states that Google-Extended has no effect on a site's inclusion in Search. Its scope covers the documented training and grounding uses, including grounding in Gemini Apps.

Sources

Check how a page reads to answer engines. Open the GEO score analyzer