What is Crawling?
TL;DR
How search engines discover your website's pages. Google sends automated programs called "crawlers" or "spiders" to follow links and read your content. Without proper crawling, pages can't be indexed. Factors like site speed, Robots.txt, and internal linking affect how efficiently Google crawls your site.
On this page
Frequently Asked Questions About Crawling
How does Google crawl websites?
Google uses automated programs (bots) that follow links from page to page, reading content and discovering new pages. They start from known pages, follow links to new pages, and report back to Google for potential indexing.
Can I control how Google crawls my site?
Yes, through robots.txt (which pages to access), XML sitemaps (which pages exist), and site structure (internal linking). You can also adjust crawl rate in Search Console if crawling causes server issues.
What if Google can't crawl my site properly?
Crawl issues mean pages won't be indexed and can't rank. Check Search Console for crawl errors, ensure robots.txt isn't blocking important pages, and make sure your site loads quickly and completely.
How often does Google crawl my website?
Crawl frequency depends on site size, update frequency, and authority. News sites might be crawled hourly; small business sites might be crawled weekly. Regularly updated sites with fresh content get crawled more often.
Terms Related to Crawling
Crawl Budget
The number of pages Google will crawl on your site within a given timeframe. For most small business sites, this isn't a...
Read definition SEOIndexing
The process of Google adding your pages to its searchable database. If a page isn't indexed, it won't appear in search r...
Read definition SEORobots.txt
A text file that tells search engine crawlers which pages they can and can't access. It's a suggestion, not a rule, craw...
Read definition SEO301 Redirect
A permanent redirect that tells browsers and search engines "this page has moved forever, go here instead." When someone...
Read definition SEO302 Redirect
A temporary redirect that tells search engines "this page has moved for now, but it's coming back." Unlike a 301 Redirec...
Read definition SEOAlgorithm
The complex set of rules Google uses to rank websites. Google updates its algorithm thousands of times per year, with ma...
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