If you already know a little about how Google works and how they find and rank pages, you may have found yourself wondering how often Google crawls your website, or how long it takes them to crawl a new page. In this article, our SEO experts answer your questions and prove some helpful tips for better crawl management. So, let’s get started; how often does Google crawl your website?
Typically, Google crawls websites every three to four weeks, although this is dependent on a variety of factors which influence a site’s crawl rate. In some cases, URLs can be crawled within a few hours, whilst others can take weeks. The size and popularity of your website, as well as how well you follow Google guidelines can influence this.
Read on to learn more about how Google crawls websites, how often, and what you can do to influence it.
How Often Does Google Crawl a Website?
Whilst Google claims that there is no fixed interval, experts have found that Google tends to crawl websites every three to four weeks. However, this varies massively and is highly dependent on your own website activity as well as other factors such as:
- The size of your website – larger, more popular sites with regular updates tend to be crawled more frequently.
- How long your website has existed – new sites tend to experience longer gaps between crawls.
- Website popularity – popularity and the number of visitors to a site seem to influence the frequency of crawls.
- Adherence to Google’s guidelines – sticking to Google’s best practices is always highly recommended, but it seems to also influence the crawl rate.
That being said, recent developments from Google suggest that their crawling priorities are changing. Google Analyst, Gary Illyes, said in a recent statement that his mission for 2024 is to figure out how to crawl the web even less.
He clarified that, for the time being, Google is still crawling the same amount of pages. However, she stressed the need for more intelligent scheduling and a focus on URLs that are more likely to deserve crawling.
This is in line with Google’s recent March Core Algorithm Update that highlights a similar focus on helpful content – content that actually serves the user, is unique and valuable.
You can learn more about crawl management and how Google currently manages their crawling system in our dedicated blog.
Does Google Automatically Crawl Websites?
Google’s web crawler is automated in that it discovers URLs and then keeps following subsequent URLs found on each page, unless told otherwise in a website’s robots.txt file.
How Do I Get Google to Crawl My Site Immediately?
Whilst websites do get crawled automatically, there are ways to ensure that Google crawls your website when you make updates.
- Request indexing via Google Search Console – When you create a new page or update an existing one, it’s a good idea to request indexing on that page via Google Search Console. Simply navigate to Search Results in the left hand menu, paste in the URL of the page and , when prompted, request indexing.
- Ensure good internal linking practices – A great way to ensure that your pages are crawled frequently is to ensure good internal linking across your website. When you create a new page, ensure that there is a good amount of internal links on the page. You also need to go back to other pages and link towards your new page. This ensures ample opportunity for Google to find and crawl the new page.
How Do I Know if Google is Crawling My Website?
In Google Search Console, you can see how many pages Google has crawled and indexed on your website over the last 90 days. You can also see pages which aren’t or can’t be indexed with some explanation to help you resolve any issues.
How Long Does it Take for Google to Crawl Websites?
Crawling can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks depending on your website. As we said previously, good SEO practices and requesting indexing may speed things up, but it can take time and it’s important to know that this is normal.
That being said, there are some technical things that can get in the way of crawling and indexing, including:
- The design of the website may make crawling or indexing difficult
- Previously, the domain may have had issues, or was connected to a site that had issues with areas such as security or manual actions
- Lack of internal linking towards the desired page
At Wildcat Digital, our technical SEO experts are on hand to detect and resolve such issues to help ensure that crawling and indexing runs smoothly on your website. Get in touch with us today to learn more.
Get Help with Crawling and Indexing With Wildcat Digital
If your website is struggling with crawling and indexing new URLs, you may have an issue with its crawlability. In most cases employing an SEO through an agency is a cost-effective way to get your website seen by Google and billions of Google users, helping you compete in the digital world.
Wildcat Digital is an SEO, PPC and Paid Social Digital Marketing Agency that helps businesses punch above their weight online and compete with some of the largest names in their fields.
If you need help with crawling and indexing your website, then get in contact with our team today.
Chloe Robinson
Content Strategist & Team Leader
