Google indexes information from various web pages by having its crawlers navigate through them. However, if you don’t request crawling, the frequency of crawling won’t increase. Moreover, websites with low-quality content or poor link structures are difficult for crawlers to navigate. If crawlers don’t navigate these sites, they won’t be indexed, leading to them not appearing in search results.

In this article, we will explain methods to prompt crawling.

What are Crawlers?

Crawlers are robots that read the content of web pages to index them in search engines. In other words, they are robots that understand the content written on the web and store it in a database.

Reference: What are Crawlers? Explaining the Mechanism and Methods to Achieve SEO Top Rankings in Search Results

Types of Crawlers

There are various types of crawlers, not just one, including Googlebot and others. While Bing has its own bingbot, since Yahoo! JAPAN uses Google as its search engine, if you’re prepared for Googlebot, your website will be almost compatible in Japan.

What is Crawlability?

Crawlability refers to optimizing a website’s content to make it easier for crawlers to collect while navigating. Improving crawlability makes web pages more discoverable, leading to enhanced evaluations by Google.

Reference: What is Crawlability? Explaining Concrete Methods for Improving Crawlability

Utilizing Rendering Functionality

For content made with JavaScript not supported by crawlers for indexing, there’s a method utilizing rendering functionality. This approach is endorsed by Google.

“ Dynamic rendering serves as a workaround for websites with JavaScript-generated content that search engines can’t handle. The dynamic rendering server detects bots that may encounter issues with JavaScript-generated content and provides them with a version rendered without JavaScript, while users see the content rendered on the client side.

Quote: Implementing Dynamic Rendering (Google Search Central )

Methods for Requesting Crawling from Google

When requesting crawling from Google, you can consider the following methods.

-Submitting XML Sitemaps

-Using URL Inspection Tool

Submitting XML Sitemaps

To request crawling from Google, submitting an XML sitemap can be effective. You can do this through Search Console. This prompts Google’s crawlers to navigate, allowing for the crawling of content within the website.

Reference: What is a Sitemap? Explaining Creation Methods and SEO Effects

Using URL Inspection Tool .

There’s a method to have Google crawl your website using the URL Inspection Tool. To utilize this tool, click on the URL Inspection in the menu of Search Console. This will display the indexing status of the entered page, and by requesting an index registration, you can request crawling.

When you check a page already indexed using the URL Inspection Tool, it will show that it’s been registered, allowing you to confirm whether it’s been indexed or not.

Reference: Mastering the URL Inspection Tool in Search Console!

Handling Google After Crawling Request

After requesting crawling from Google, it’s essential to check how often it’s being crawled. There are two methods for checking

-Checking from search results

-Checking crawl statistics in Search Console

Checking from Search Results

One way to confirm the crawling rate is by using the cache link from search results. To use this, enter the URL of the relevant web page into Google’s search bar and search. If the web page appears in the search results, it means it’s been indexed. Furthermore, you can check the cache from the URL in the search results, allowing you to confirm the retrieval date.

Checking from Crawl Statistics in Search Console .

Additionally, you can check from the statistics in Search Console. Simply open the report from crawl statistics to easily confirm.

Improving Crawlability

Improving crawlability can make web pages easier to recognize and shorten the time it takes for them to appear in search results. To enhance crawlability, you can do the following.

• Improve internal linking
• Submit a sitemap
• Organize breadcrumb lists

Improving Internal Links

Crawlers navigate through websites by following links. Setting up internal links to articles related to your content creates an environment that’s easier to crawl. However, having too many internal links can potentially lower your evaluation. So, focus on setting up only highly relevant internal links.

Submitting a Sitemap

Submitting a sitemap via Google Search Console effectively communicates the content of your website’s content.

Organizing Breadcrumb Lists

Breadcrumb lists act as internal links. Properly setting up breadcrumb lists makes it easier to navigate through the information on your website.

Preventing Pages from Being Crawled

If there are pages you don’t want Google to crawl, you have two options.

-Using robots.txt

-Using Basic Authentication

Using robots.txt

Using robots.txt allows you to instruct Google not to crawl certain pages. Google Search Central provides instructions on how to inform Google about pages you don’t want to be crawled using robots.txt.

“ “robots.txt” is a file that informs search engines whether to allow access and crawling to specific parts of a site. This file must be named “robots.txt” and placed in the root directory of the site.

Quote: Search Engine Optimization (SEO) Starter Guide (Google Search Central)

Using Basic Authentication

Basic Authentication involves setting up a simple password for accessing a website. While it’s typically used to restrict access to specific users, it can also be utilized to prevent indexing.

How to Reduce Googlebot’s Crawling Frequency

Usually, webmasters try to increase the crawling frequency of Googlebot. However, there are situations where there are downsides to having the site crawled too frequently.

Reasons for Reducing Googlebot’s Crawling Frequency

Reducing the crawling frequency of Googlebot can be necessary to prevent excessive strain on infrastructure or unnecessary costs during periods of inactivity.

Utilize Search Console

The quickest way to reduce crawling frequency is to make settings changes using Search Console. Please note that it may take a few days for the settings changes to take effect.

Utilize Google’s Mechanisms

If there’s a need to quickly reduce crawling frequency, utilize Google’s mechanisms by returning information error pages with status codes 500, 503, or 429 HTTP responses.

Quote: Reducing Googlebot’s crawl rate (Google Search Central)

By having many such URLs detected, it’s possible to reduce the crawling frequency on the corresponding website.

Summary

Websites are indexed by search engines through crawling, allowing their content to be evaluated by Google. However, without requesting crawling, crawler visits won’t be prompted. Websites with low-quality content or insufficient link structures may face difficulties with crawling. In such cases, it’s important not only to improve content quality and make website modifications but also to request crawling to make it easier for crawlers to visit. Regardless of how high-quality a website’s content is, there might still be difficulties with crawling. Therefore, depending on the situation, it’s advisable to promptly request crawling.

Author Profile

International Web Consultant Paveena Suphawet

A trilingual professional in English, Thai, and Japanese, she has numerous achievements in international SEO. She studied the latest IT technologies at Assumption International University, Thailand, and majored in International Business at the University of Greenwich, UK. Following her tenure at ExxonMobil’s Thai branch, she became a key member of Admano from its establishment.

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