How to Switch Your User-Agent to Googlebot SEO News and Blog

How to Switch Your User-Agent to Googlebot

Tuesday, 08 July 2008

Sometimes the issue with your site is right there but you can’t find it. You check code, backlinks and website architecture but can’t find the answer. What most webmasters fail to do is to try visiting the page with the user-agent being Googlebot.

By switching your user-agent to Googlebot, you will essentially see your site in the same eyes as Google, so if there is a Google specific flaw, some cloaking going on, or possibly even a Googlebot targeted hack, switching to user-agent Googlebot will help identify these issues.

1. User-agent switcher - a FireFox extension also available for Flock and Seamonkey that sends the server different information about which user-agent is requesting a file. It should be enhanced with the list of user-agent list.

User-agent switcher