diff --git a/docs/analytics.md b/docs/analytics.md
index 17c3be5..1fed10d 100644
--- a/docs/analytics.md
+++ b/docs/analytics.md
@@ -24,7 +24,14 @@ The client (`pagerite.js`) POSTs fire-and-forget pings to `/_a` with
 
 - **Initial page load**: `to` is the loaded path. This ping is what starts
   the visit and counts the entry page view — the document GET alone records
-  nothing, so bots and admin browsing never register. Reloads are not
+  nothing, so bots and admin browsing never register. JS-running crawlers
+  (Googlebot, GoogleOther, Applebot, ...) do ping, but their User-Agent
+  gives them away: pings whose UA matches `_is_bot_ua` (anything calling
+  itself a "bot", plus known exceptions such as GoogleOther) are ignored
+  server-side, and their document GETs land in the crawler list instead.
+  No source-IP verification is done: a spoofed bot UA merely lands in the
+  crawler stats, and scanners that probe telltale paths are caught by the
+  abuse rules regardless. Reloads are not
   visits: the ping is skipped (PerformanceNavigationTiming `reload`), so a
   refresh neither counts a second view nor logs a self-transition. The GET
   handler stashes a cross-origin https `Referer` (origin part only) and any
@@ -74,8 +81,13 @@ The client (`pagerite.js`) POSTs fire-and-forget pings to `/_a` with
   removing older versions after an update; without the flag only an existing
   file is used.
 - **Crawler hits**: every document GET is queued in RAM as a pending crawler
-  hit.  If a ping from the same client arrives within 10 seconds the hit is
-  discarded; otherwise it is written to `crawlers`.  Crawlers do not count as
+  hit — except idle-time link preloads from pagerite.js, which carry an
+  `x-pagerite-preload` header and are not tracked at all (the ping sent when
+  the user actually navigates to a preloaded page does the counting; forging
+  the header only hides a GET from the crawler stats, the path-based abuse
+  classification is unaffected).  If a ping
+  from the same client arrives within 10 seconds the hit is discarded;
+  otherwise it is written to `crawlers`.  Crawlers do not count as
   visits or views.  The `Accept-Language` header is stored on the shared
   `Client` immediately; reverse-DNS host names and DB-IP geoip
   country/city are filled in asynchronously, just like for real visits.  In
diff --git a/frontend/src/pagerite.js b/frontend/src/pagerite.js
index 5d403bd..ae2587d 100644
--- a/frontend/src/pagerite.js
+++ b/frontend/src/pagerite.js
@@ -337,7 +337,10 @@ import "overlayscrollbars/overlayscrollbars.css";
     }
     for (const url of urls) {
       if (pageCache.has(url)) continue;
-      fetch(url)
+      // x-pagerite-preload: idle cache warm-up, not a page view — the
+      // server excludes these GETs from analytics (the ping sent on actual
+      // navigation does the counting).
+      fetch(url, { headers: { "x-pagerite-preload": "1" } })
         .then((r) => (r.ok && (r.headers.get("content-type") || "").includes("text/html")
           ? r.text() : ""))
         .then((html) => { if (html) pageCache.set(url, html); })
diff --git a/pagerite/analytics.py b/pagerite/analytics.py
index b64fcf1..a58a204 100644
--- a/pagerite/analytics.py
+++ b/pagerite/analytics.py
@@ -5,7 +5,13 @@ ping on page load starts a visit, later pings extend it, and pings with no
 known session start a fresh one (missing data, not dropped). The document
 GET handler stashes the entry referer (external https origin) and any
 utm_* query parameters in in-memory IP tables, consumed when the ping
-starts the visit; nothing is counted without a ping (bots stay invisible).
+starts the visit; nothing is counted without a ping (plain bots that only
+fetch documents end up in the crawler list).  JS-running crawlers
+(Googlebot, GoogleOther, Applebot, ...) do ping, but their UA gives them
+away (``_is_bot_ua``) and their pings are ignored, so they land in the
+crawler list too.  Idle-time link preloads from pagerite.js carry an
+``x-pagerite-preload`` header and are not tracked at all — the ping sent
+when the user actually navigates does the counting.
 Admin clients ping with ``hide=1``, which records nothing and removes any
 visit the session accumulated before logging in.  Scanner telltale 404s
 (dotpaths, *.php) classify the source IP as abuse; its hits — including
@@ -239,6 +245,18 @@ def _utm_tags(query: str) -> dict[str, str]:
 
 _CRAWLER_TIMEOUT = timedelta(seconds=10)
 
+#: UAs of JS-running crawlers, which would register as visitors on their
+#: ping.  Anything calling itself a "bot" matches; known crawlers without
+#: that token (GoogleOther) are listed as extra alternates.  No source
+#: verification: a spoofed bot UA just lands in the crawler list, and
+#: scanners that probe telltale paths are caught by the abuse rules anyway.
+_BOT_UA = re.compile(r"bot|googleother", re.IGNORECASE)
+
+
+def _is_bot_ua(ua: str) -> bool:
+    """True when the UA claims a crawler identity (Googlebot, Applebot, ...)."""
+    return bool(_BOT_UA.search(ua))
+
 #: Plain-404 count per IP that classifies it as abuse even without a
 #: telltale path hit.
 _ABUSE_404_THRESHOLD = 10
@@ -664,7 +682,10 @@ class Store:
         removed from the stats (the admin browsed anonymously before logging
         in).  Nothing new is recorded.
 
-        Pings from IPs classified as abuse are ignored entirely.
+        Pings from IPs classified as abuse, and pings whose User-Agent
+        claims a JS-running crawler identity (``_is_bot_ua``), are ignored
+        entirely — the crawler's pending hits stay queued and flush to
+        ``data.crawlers`` normally.
 
         Returns the index of the new visit when one is created (or None) and
         the client hashes of any crawler hits flushed by this call, so callers
@@ -685,6 +706,11 @@ class Store:
             return None, flushed
         if ip in self.data.abuse_ips:
             return None, flushed
+        if _is_bot_ua(ua):
+            # A JS-running crawler (Googlebot, GoogleOther, Applebot execute
+            # JS and ping): never a visit.  Its pending crawler hits are
+            # kept and flush to ``data.crawlers`` normally.
+            return None, flushed
         # A real visitor ping cancels any pending crawler hits from this client.
         self.pending_crawlers = [
             hit for hit in self.pending_crawlers if hit.client != client_hash
diff --git a/pagerite/app.py b/pagerite/app.py
index f5be174..95f22e8 100644
--- a/pagerite/app.py
+++ b/pagerite/app.py
@@ -857,8 +857,9 @@ def _track_entry(path: str, request: Request) -> list[bytes]:
     """Stash the referer/UTM tags and queue a pending crawler hit for the GET.
 
     Nothing is counted on the GET itself — the client's /_a ping starts the
-    visit, so bots never register as visits.  (Admin clients ping too, but
-    with hide=1, which scrubs their session instead of recording it.)
+    visit, so bots never register as visits (JS-running crawlers ping too,
+    but the ping handler ignores known bot UAs).  (Admin clients ping too,
+    but with hide=1, which scrubs their session instead of recording it.)
 
     The devserver's health probe (``GET /?from=devserver.py`` from
     ``127.0.0.1``) is ignored: it is not real traffic and would otherwise be
@@ -868,6 +869,12 @@ def _track_entry(path: str, request: Request) -> list[bytes]:
     Returns the client hashes of any pending crawler hits flushed to persistent
     storage, so callers can schedule async geoip and reverse-DNS enrichment.
     """
+    if request.headers.get("x-pagerite-preload"):
+        # Idle-time page-cache warm-up by pagerite.js, not a page view: the
+        # ping sent when the user actually navigates does the counting.
+        # (Forging the header only hides a GET from the crawler stats; the
+        # path-based abuse classification is unaffected.)
+        return []
     if (
         path == ""
         and str(request.url.query) == "from=devserver.py"