How Often Does Google Crawl a Site

Updated · Mar 06, 2023

Googlebot is Google's web crawling robot. It lands on a webpage and reads it before following links to other pages on the site. The process of Googlebot reading a page is called a "crawl."

Googlebot can visit pages several times a day or just once a month, depending on the site. It looks for new pages, changes to existing pages, and (broken) links when it visits.

New pages are crawled and indexed within days or even hours. If your website changes often, you might see Googlebot visiting more frequently.

Let's see what determines Googlebot's work schedule.

Google's crawling schedule depends on many factors, including site signals, such as the frequency with which a site is updated and how popular it is.

The search engine giant's algorithms are designed to "crawl and index as many pages as possible to make all of the world's information searchable." That means that websites with regular updates are more likely to be crawled more frequently.

Google considers factors such as the freshness of a site's content, sitemap availability, and server responsiveness when determining its crawling schedule.

As a result, there is no one-size-fits-all answer to how often Google crawls a website.

But by understanding the factors that Google takes into account, you can make sure that your site is as crawlable as possible.

When you're looking for information online, you want the most up-to-date and relevant results.

Search engines know this, which is why they give preferential treatment to newer and more popular sites. This is because these sites are more likely to contain the latest information that users are looking for.

As a result, search engines crawl these sites more frequently, making them more visible in search results. So if you're looking to get your website noticed, it's important to keep it fresh and up-to-date.

You can do this by posting content regularly and by updating existing content to keep it relevant and fresh.

3. How to Check When Google Last Crawled Your Site

There are several ways to see when Googlebot last indexed your site.

The most straightforward one is within the powerful Google Search Console, even though the most flexible SEO suites will do the trick.

The first step is to open your Google Search Console account. If you don't have one, you can create one for free.

Once logged in, click on the "Crawl" tab, then click on "Crawl Stats." Here, you'll see a graph that shows how many pages Google has crawled over the past 90 days.

If you hover over a specific day, you'll see how many pages were crawled on that day.

You can also view information about the average crawl rate and the last time that Google crawled your site. This information can be helpful if you're troubleshooting an issue with your website or trying to improve its ranking in search results.

To check when Google last crawled your site, you can also use the free Site Explorer tool from SEOmoz.

Just enter your URL into the search bar and click "Explore."

On the next page, you'll see a section labeled "Last Crawled." The date listed here is the last time that Google visited your site.

4. How to Improve Your Site's Crawlability

The crawlability of a website is important for two reasons.

First, it determines how well search engines index your site.

Second, it affects the user experience, as a website that is difficult to crawl will be hard for users to navigate.

Several factors contribute to crawlability, but some of the most important include site structure, page speed, and use of internal linking.

Site structure refers to how pages are linked together.

A well-structured site will have a clear hierarchy and will use descriptive URLs. A flat site structure is simple enough while retaining sufficient flexibility for site growth.

Page speed is another important factor, as crawlers will give up if they have to wait too long for a page to load.

Finally, internal linking can help crawlers find and index new content.

By understanding how these factors affect crawlability, you can ensure that your site is as easy for search engines to crawl as possible.

5. How to Recrawl My Website

We explored how often Google does reindex pages, and sometimes it may not be fast enough

If you've made changes to your website and want to ensure that Google picks up the new content as quickly as possible, you can request a recrawl.

There are a few different ways to do this, but the simplest is to use the Search Console. You'll need to add and verify your website with Search Console if you haven't already done so.

Once you're logged in, select the site that you want to recrawl from the property selector at the top of the page.

In the sidebar on the left, go to the option URL Inspection, paste the full address you wanted crawled, and Request Indexing.

If you want Google to crawl all of the pages on your site, you can leave the box blank.

Again, you can click Request Indexing, and Google will recrawl your site within a few days.

You can also submit a sitemap to Google to help them find and index new content on your site.

Conclusion

The crawl rate is an important aspect to consider as it affects the user experience and search engine indexing.

We discussed a few crucial factors that can increase the crawl rate, such as site structure, page speed, and use of internal linking. Arguably, the most important factors are frequent content updates and a simple, logical site structure.

Our outline gives a general idea of what things to consider and how to check how often Google does crawl a site, but to understand each factor fully, make sure to read our extensive guides.

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Nick Galov
Nick Galov

Unaware that life beyond the internet exists, Nick is poking servers and control panels, playing with WordPress add-ons, and helping people get the hosting that suits them.