Search engines, although complex and intricately tuned, are still quirky and can be unpredictable. Perhaps among the most evident of these idiosyncrasies is how often they crawl websites. When an internet property first comes online, it may experience an extended indexing wait (something commonly called the “search engine sandbox”), and once contextualized and crawled, may not be revisited again for quite some time. If that gap is prolonged, website owners will look for strategies to get their properties recrawled.

Fortunately, during a recent discussion, Google's Gary Illyes and Lizzi Sassman highlighted three key elements that can prompt Googlebot to crawl a website more often. Although they emphasized that relentless crawling isn't necessary, they did confirm there are strategies to entice Googlebot into more frequent visits to a site.

3 Proven Ways to Make Googlebot Crawl a Website More Frequently

What Illyes and Sassman agreed on is that to get Googlebot to crawl your website more frequently, you need to create a site that’s both rich in high-quality content and technically optimized. Googlebot’s crawling behavior is influenced by how valuable and relevant your content is, as well as how well your site performs technically. Below is a detailed explanation of how to achieve more frequent crawling by focusing on high-quality content, consistent publishing, and fixing technical performance issues.

 1. High-Quality Content

You need to create valuable, in-depth content because Google prioritizes sites that provide value to users. High-quality, in-depth content is more likely to be indexed and ranked by Google because it answers users' questions effectively and keeps them engaged. You can achieve this by doing the following: 

• Research your audience. Understand what your target audience is searching for. Use tools like Google Keyword Planner, AnswerThePublic, or SEMrush to find relevant topics.

• Write in-depth articles. Create long-form content that thoroughly explores a topic. Aim to provide comprehensive answers that other sources might not cover as deeply.

• Use multimedia. Incorporate images, videos, infographics, and other multimedia elements to enrich the content. This not only enhances user experience but also signals to Google that your content is diverse and engaging.

Additionally, be sure to keep content updated. Regularly review and update older content to keep it relevant. Google favors content that is both evergreen and up-to-date.

Next, you should optimize your content for SEO since well-optimized content is more likely to be indexed and prioritized by Googlebot. SEO-friendly content helps Google understand what your page is about and how it should be categorized. You can accomplish this by doing three things: 

• Use targeted keywords. Incorporate relevant keywords naturally into your content, including in titles, headings, and throughout the body text. Avoid keyword stuffing.

• Structure content with headings. Use H1, H2, and H3 tags to organize your content logically. This makes it easier for Googlebot to understand the hierarchy and main topics of your content.

• Internal linking. Link to other relevant pages on your site to create a network of content. Internal links help Googlebot discover new pages and understand the structure of your site.

 2. Publishing New Content on a Consistent Basis

Start by establishing a regular content schedule. Googlebot tends to crawl sites more frequently when new content is regularly added. A consistent publishing schedule signals to Google that your site is active and continuously providing fresh content. While there are several strategies, these are among the most effective:

• Create a content calendar. Use a content calendar to plan out your content topics and publishing dates in advance. Aim for a balance between quality and quantity—regular updates are important, but they should not come at the expense of content quality.

• Set realistic goals. Depending on your resources, decide how often you can realistically publish new content. Whether it’s daily, weekly, or biweekly, consistency is key.

• Repurpose old content. If creating new content frequently is challenging, consider repurposing existing content. For example, turn a blog post into a video, infographic, or podcast.

But this isn’t all. There are more ways to encourage frequent updates. Remember, Googlebot is more likely to crawl sites that frequently update their content. This can include adding new blog posts, updating existing content, or making changes to your website’s structure. So, use this to your advantage by doing the following: 

• Update key pages regularly. Pages such as your homepage, landing pages, and key product pages should be updated with new information, offers, or features regularly.

• Blogging. Maintain an active blog. Each new post gives Googlebot a reason to revisit your site.

• User-generated content. Encourage reviews, comments, or user-submitted content, which can also count as fresh content for Googlebot to crawl.

 3. Fixing Technical Performance Issues

Now, let’s move on to the technical aspects. Begin by improving site speed and performance. Do this because Googlebot favors sites that load quickly and provide a smooth user experience. A slow, poorly performing site can lead to less frequent crawls, as it indicates a suboptimal user experience. You can achieve this by:

• Optimizing images and media. Compress images and optimize videos to reduce load times. Use next-gen formats like WebP for images.

• Take advantage of browser caching. Configure your server to cache certain elements of your site, reducing the time it takes for returning visitors to load your pages.

• Minimizing HTTP requests. Reduce the number of elements on your page (like scripts, images, and CSS) that require individual loading. Combine files where possible.

Also, use a Content Delivery Network or CDN. A CDN can distribute your content across multiple servers worldwide, reducing load times for users in different geographical locations.

But, even doing those things might not be enough. You have to ensure mobile-friendliness. With Google’s mobile-first indexing, your site’s mobile version is critical. A mobile-friendly site is more likely to be crawled frequently and ranked higher in search results. This can be done by: 

• Implementing a responsive design. Ensure your site uses a responsive design so that it automatically adjusts to fit any screen size.

• Optimizing mobile loading speed. Use tools like Google’s MobileFriendly Test to ensure that your site loads quickly on mobile devices.

• Simplifying navigation. Mobile users benefit from simple, easy-to-navigate menus and layouts. Ensure that buttons and links are easily tappable on smaller screens.

Although these technical corrections should make a site more attractive to search engines and visitors alike, you also need to pay attention to some other details. For example, take time to fix crawl errors because such roadblocks can prevent Googlebot from accessing your content, leading to less frequent indexing and potentially harming your search rankings. Moreover, it’s necessary to:

• Use Google Search Console. Regularly check for crawl errors in Google Search Console. These can include server errors, 404 pages, and blocked resources.

• Fix broken links. Ensure that all internal and external links on your site lead to live pages. Broken links can lead to a poor user experience and reduced crawl frequency.

• Submit an updated sitemap. Keep your XML sitemap up-to-date and submit it to Google Search Console. This helps Googlebot find and index new or updated content more efficiently.

Finally, correct and enhance site architecture because a well organized site structure helps Googlebot navigate and index your site more efficiently, leading to more frequent crawls. This can be improved by doing the following things:

• Simplify navigation. Ensure that your site’s navigation is intuitive and that all important pages are easily accessible within a few clicks from the homepage.

• Use a logical URL structure. Organize URLs in a way that reflects the structure of your site. For example, use categories and subcategories in URLs to indicate page hierarchy.

• Breadcrumbs. Implement breadcrumb navigation to help both users and Googlebot understand the structure of your site and navigate through it easily.

How It All Wraps Up

To encourage Googlebot to crawl your website more frequently, you need to create an environment that Google deems valuable and well maintained. This involves producing high-quality, in-depth content that provides value to users, publishing new content consistently to keep your site fresh, and ensuring that your website is technically optimized for speed, mobile-friendliness, and ease of navigation. By focusing on these areas, you can improve your site’s crawl rate, which can lead to better indexing, higher search rankings, and ultimately, more organic traffic.

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