Browser name "Google Webmaster Tools 0" in logs

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Browser name "Google Webmaster Tools 0" in logs

aakk9999

12:03 am on May 20, 2009 (gmt 0)

I have noticed a strange entry in statcounter tracking. The visitor was Google IP address, but the browser name is stated as "Google Webmaster Tools 0". Has anyone else came across to this? Here are the details:

Referrer: No referring link
Host Name: crawl-66-249-71-216.googlebot.com
IP Address: 66.249.71.216 [Label IP Address]
Country: United States
Region: California
City: Mountain View
ISP: Google

VISITOR SYSTEM SPECS
Browser: Google Webmaster Tools 0
Operating System: unknown
Resolution: Unknown
Javascript: Enabled

There are three entries like this, two today and one yesterday. Every visit was for one URL only. None of URLs accessed had referring link.

I used to get an occasional entry in stats from Google IP from Mountain View, one URL and often no referrer, but this is the first time that I can see the browser name declared as "Google Webmaster Tools".

Any ideas?

tedster

4:32 am on May 20, 2009 (gmt 0)

Using Google Search I found a number of pages that show the same browser name - and they all seem to be "browser detection" pages, "unsupported browser" warnings and so on. I only can see these pages in the Google cache link, naturally - if I click through then the pages detect my browser.

So it looks like this is an automated request of some kind from Google - because it triggers that kind of page getting stored in the Google cache.

I haven't noticed it myself, but I'll be keeping a look out from now on. So far I have no information about what the purpose is for this particular beastie.

aakk9999

3:38 pm on May 20, 2009 (gmt 0)

I have part of the answer on three misterious visits from Google that appeared in Statcounter logs. Although this does not explain why the browser is set to "Google Webmaster Tools 0", it does explain what Google visits were about.

Basically, Google (automated or manual, not sure) visited the site to check for malware. Such visits are then seen in Statcounter logs as a visit from Google ISP located in Mountain View, in my case with no referrer and with "Google Webmaster Tools 0" browser.

I found this out by running [google.com...] (link which was on another thread) for the site and finding that the information reported exactly ties in with "misteroius visits from Google".

I had three Google visits in the last two days and nothing for months before, which ties in with:

"What happened when Google visited this site?

Of the 3 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 0 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2009-05-20, and suspicious content was never found on this site within the past 90 days."

Similar visits from Google have been discussed in thread [webmasterworld.com...] so that may also have been some kind of "spot check" review of something.

I have also seen such random, one page visits on another of my sites before (only a different browser and occassionally there was a referring search string for such visit). But what remained the same is that it was always only one page at the time that was visited, never a few pages in the same session.