How do you troubleshoot your website's crawl budget?

Google has become advanced in crawling a large number of sites in a given timeframe. As mentioned, the website size is one of the main factors determining the crawl budget. Therefore, if you have a small website, you don’t really need to worry about the crawl budget. Google can easily crawl sites with fewer than a thousand URLs. A problem arises when you have a website with more than 5K or 10K web pages, or sites that auto-generate pages based on URL parameters. This is when it becomes essential to optimize your crawl budget.

Website popularity (brand + keywords you're prominent for) can also determine you indexing tier, and how quickly and willing Google is to devote resources to your website. This can be impactful when you're doing things like migrations, mass URL architecture changes, or large-scale content changes.

Google typically spends as much time as necessary crawling a site, given its size, update frequency, page quality, and relevance, compared to other sites.

The crawl budget of a website is the number of crawl requests assigned by search engines such as Google for the respective website for a time interval. Older SEOs might remember that we used to submit priority and update frequency in XML sitemaps. The sole purpose of those attributes is to notify SE bots of the importance of URLs and how frequently those URLs should be crawled for updated information and those attributes are now redundant so that Google can make the call efficiently based on user behavior. Crawl budget matters to reduce the TAT on the results of your SEO efforts. The earlier your webpages are crawled, the earlier change will be recognized, and the result will appear soon. P.S: Crawl budget may vary from website to website.

Crawl budget is the number of pages Googlebots can crawl on a website per day. It is determined by factors like site size, update frequency, page quality and popularity, etc. It tends to matter most for medium and large sites (10K - 1M+ pages), sites with frequently changing content, or sites with many discovered but not indexed pages in Google Search Console. Crawl budget matters because it impacts how quickly new or updated content gets indexed. If the crawl budget is too small, it can take a long time for changes to be noticed and reflected in search.

The easiest way to measure your crawl budget is surely using the report "Crawl Stats" in Google Search Console, but I'd debate it's the best way. Using information you can extract from your log files is way better and can provide deeper, complete and more reliable insights. Furthermore, even leveraging the basics GSC data, we can calculate some derived metrics like the crawl ratio (avg page number crawled by day / indexable pages) and the actual crawl budget (avg time to download a page * crawled pages). There's a great deck and speech given by @Sally Rayner on it during the last BrightonSEO that I strongly recommend to read and study. It integrates with more custom metrics and comments.

To measure your crawl budget follow the steps below: 1. Go to Google Search Console 2. Go to Settings from navigation on left sidebar 3. Click on Crawl Stats Now focus on Total Crawl Requests: Just there for reporting purposes only; however, it allows you to measure the crawl budget on a daily basis for the last 90 days. Break it up on a weekly/monthly basis, average it out and it will give you a crawl budget trend for your website. There are several other important factors (listed below) that help you understand the crawling behavior and help you optimize the same: 1. Host Status 2. Response Codes 3. Crawl requests breakdown 3.1. By Response Code 3.2. By File Type 3.3. By Purpose 3.4. By Googlebot Type

Another effective method for this is to analyze your server logs, also known as "log file analysis.". Your server logs can provide you with detailed information about the pages that Googlebot has crawled. This information can help you identify pages that are being crawled frequently or infrequently, which can give you insights into how to optimize your crawl budget.

1. If you have pages on your website that are no longer used or relevant, remove them. This will free up the crawl budget for the pages that are important. 2. Using The robots.txt file tells Googlebot which pages on your website you do not want it to crawl. 3. Creating the sitemaps.xml file tells Googlebot about all of the pages on your website. This can help Googlebot crawl your website more efficiently.

Top 3 tips to measure your crawl budget. 1. Use Google Search Console: Dive into this tool to gain insights into Google's crawl habits on your site. Go to Settings > Crawl stats to see daily crawled pages, page download times, and server response rates. 2. Track and Compare Trends: Don't just note present data. Compare current metrics to the past 90 days. This helps in identifying shifts, indicating if there's a rise in crawled pages or changes in server responses. 3. Prioritize Server Health: Your server's speed and reliability directly affect your crawl budget. Ensure it's optimized and responsive. A laggy server can limit how much a search engine explores, affecting your visibility.

First and foremost the SEOs should have a fair understanding of their website by asking the following questions: 1. How many pages does your website have? 2. What is the bifurcation of pages by template? 3. What is the update frequency of each template? Then you'll know which pages should be crawled more frequently. Analyze Crawl Stats and Server Logs. If your website is not receiving a fair amount of crawl requests then next you need to follow the steps below: 1. Check how many clicks are needed to reach any of the pages from the homepage. 2. Check all the destination URLs in interlinks should have a 200 server response code. 3. Check the sitemaps if updated or not.

Navigating the crawl budget's labyrinth uncovers telltale signs of its misalignment. Picture this: a multitude of low-quality, repetitive pages creating a muddled aura around your site's authority and relevance. Visualize an intricate site structure, confounding search engines' quest for vital pages. Broken links and misdirected paths cast a shadow on user experience, stifling crawlability. The ticking clock of loading speeds curtails the pages explored. Meanwhile, a content desert or abundance of stagnant pages stifle crawl demand's fire. These whispers reveal crawl budget woes, guiding your journey towards restoration and SEO excellence.

Top 3 ways to identify crawl budget issues. 1. Check for Duplicate Content: High volumes of repetitive or low-value pages can lower your site's authority. Ensure unique, quality content to maximize crawl budget use. 2. Examine Site Structure & Errors: A convoluted site layout is a deterrent for search engines. Additionally, broken links or too many redirects impede crawlability. Regularly audit for such issues. 3. Monitor Speed & Update Frequency: Slow loading diminishes how much search engines can crawl. Additionally, infrequent content updates or numerous outdated pages decrease crawl demand. Prioritize site speed and content freshness.

Slow loading speed is always the first thing I check when bounce rates are climbing. It is a key metric for getting both a search engine to rank your site and keeping customers onsite once they arrive. It is a delicate balance, but in general I like to see key pages load in less than 5 seconds. This will help with your crawl budget optimization.

Identifying crawl budget issues involves analyzing website's crawling behavior, index coverage, and potential obstacles that may hinder efficient crawling by search engines. Google Search Console provides valuable insights into crawl behavior in sections: Coverage Report, Crawl Stats, URL Inspection Tool.

Let's break down the techniques mentioned: Caching: Caching involves storing static versions of your web pages to serve to users. This reduces the need for the server to generate a page from scratch every time a user requests it. Browser caching, server-side caching, and Content Delivery Network (CDN) caching are commonly used to improve loading times. Compression: Compression reduces the file size of your website's resources, such as images, CSS, and JavaScript files. Gzip and Brotli are popular compression methods that reduce the amount of data that needs to be transferred from the server to the user's browser, thus improving loading speed.

Out of the mentioned, both internal and external links are signals for Google to crawl. De-index (via meta robots) all unimportant sites that won't contribute to the funnel and are not bringing traffic. Use canonical elements, href lang canonization, set proper change frequency in static content sitemaps, have sitemap for fresh content to index faster.

The article offers tips for improving your website's visibility on search engines. It suggests using tools to guide search engines on which pages to focus on. Simplifying your website's structure and navigation, fixing broken links, and correcting errors helps search engines understand and navigate your site better. Enhancing loading speed and responsiveness improves the browsing experience. Keeping content fresh and relevant by updating regularly and removing outdated pages. These practices help search engines find and understand your site, leading to better visibility in search results.

3 ways to optimize your crawl budget: 1. Direct & Guide Crawlers: Use robots.txt, meta robots, and canonical tags to indicate which pages search engines should prioritize. Filter out non-critical or repetitive content to conserve crawl budget. 2. Streamline Navigation & Structure: Adopt clear URLs, sitemaps, and effective internal links. Tools like Screaming Frog can pinpoint broken links or errors. A user-friendly layout ensures efficient crawling. 3. Speed & Content Relevance: Implement caching, compression, and CDNs to hasten page loads. Continually update content and shed outdated pages, ensuring search engines find fresh and authoritative information.

Crafting an optimal crawl budget blends technical finesse with user-centric strategy. As a digital enthusiast, I've learned it's not just about codes; it's sculpting a seamless journey for search engines and visitors. Tools like robots.txt guide crawlers, clear URLs and links create a roadmap. Tackling issues with tools like Screaming Frog underscores dedication to quality. Speed is key, achieved through techniques like caching. Regular content updates breathe life into crawl demand, harmonizing tech and human experience into a symphony of digital excellence.

Navigating crawl budget performance is akin to conducting a digital symphony. I've honed this skill by orchestrating various tools—Google Search Console, SEMrush, and more. Monitoring pages crawled and indexed, tracking ranking shifts, and scrutinizing conversion rates paints a holistic picture. The crescendo? Improved visibility, higher organic traffic, and enriched leads—music to any business's ears.

Monitor your crawl budget performance with these 3 tips: 1. Harness Analytics Tools: Platforms like Google Search Console and SEMrush grant insights on pages crawled and indexed. Regularly review these metrics to ensure your crawl budget is utilized effectively. 2. Monitor Ranking Shifts: With Rank Tracker, keep tabs on important page rankings. Fluctuations here signal the efficacy of your crawl budget optimization in driving visibility. 3. Assess User Behavior: Tools like Hotjar and Crazy Egg illuminate organic visitor interactions. Gauging engagement and conversion rates will indicate if crawl budget enhancements are yielding real-world results.

Google Search Console provides valuable insights into crawl behavior and index coverage. Check the following sections: Coverage Report: Review the number of indexed, excluded, and error pages. Monitor changes in these numbers over time to identify issues. Crawl Stats: Check the crawl statistics, including the number of pages crawled per day and kilobytes downloaded. Look for patterns or anomalies in the data. URL Inspection Tool: Use this tool to check specific URLs for indexing status and issues. It provides insights into how Googlebot views your pages. Server logs contain raw data about crawlers' activities on your site. Analyze these logs to understand crawl frequency, user agents, and the URLs being crawled.

There are a number of things you can do to optimize your crawl budget. These include: - Keeping your website well-designed and optimized for performance. - Avoiding duplicate content - Using a robots.txt file to block unwanted crawling - Submitting your sitemap to Google Search Console By monitoring your crawl budget performance, you can ensure that Google is able to crawl and index your website effectively. This will help you improve your website's visibility in search results.

One thing everyone should know that, we shouldn’t worry about the crawl budget on a site that has 10,000 or less URLs. As per Johan Mueller( Google's Search Analyset) Google will crawl this amount of URLs pretty quickly. This typically tends to happen within a day.

Google has identified three key factors that affect the frequency with which their bot crawls your website. The first is "perceived inventory". If Googlebot isn't given any guidance, it will attempt to crawl as many of your URLs as it knows. However, if many of these URLs are duplicates, or not important or have been removed, this can waste the bot's time. This is a factor that you can control positively. The second factor is "popularity". URLs that are more popular on the internet are crawled more frequently to ensure they remain up-to-date, and finally "staleness". Google's systems aim to recrawl documents frequently enough to pick up any changes. There are other factors as well, website migration may cause an increase in crawl demand.

Not all website owners need to worry about the crawl budget. Few most important things are: - Make sure that the website has lean and effective pages - Each page on the website has its role and purpose - Have a good server - Have a good UX (this correlates with crawl rate) If these things are addressed, the crawl budget shouldn't be an issue.