Using Fetch as Googlebot in Webmaster Tools

If Google search results is displaying an old result for your website, it’s likely Google needs to re-crawl and index your website. The Fetch as Googlebot tool will allow you to see your webpage as Google sees it. The Fetch as Googlebot tool can be benficial if your website has been hacked as well. If you search for your website in Google, and you see results for a hacked page or frequently spammed terms. Once your website is verified in WebMaster Tools, you can use Fetch as Googlebot to understand what Google sees on your website. Because the source code of your website may appear normal, this hack may be difficult without Fetch as Googlebot.

You must have a WebMaster Tools account and your site must be verified with Google. Please see our article on WebMaster Tools for more information.

How to use Fetch as Googlebot

1. Log into Google Webmaster Tools
2. Click on the website you want to work with
3. Go to Diagnostics
4. Click on “Fetch as GoogleBot“



5. In the text field, type the path to the page you want to check



6. From the Dropdown list, select the type of fetch you’d like to perform. If you want to see what the GoogleBot sees select “Web“. If you want to see what Googlebot-Mobile sees, select “Mobile XHTML/WML”
7. Click “Fetch“

You can use this tool to fetch up to 500 URLs a week. If Googlebot can successfully fetch your webpage, you can submit that webpage to the Google index. To do this, click “Submit to Google Index”. Fetch as Googlebot does not follow redirects.



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