What Are Google Web Crawlers? [All You Need to Know in 2024]

Updated: February 22nd, 2024

What Are Google Web Crawlers? [All You Need to Know in 2024]

If you're into SEO, you probably have encountered the term web crawlers or web crawling, and it's usually associated with google. What exactly are google web crawlers, and how do they affect your site and its performance?

Google web crawlers are the automated robots that Google uses to search, check, and track new information or content. At the same time, they are also used to refresh old content. Google web crawlers search for new content through external and internal links.

Let's have a better look at Google web crawlers!

What Are Google Web Crawlers?

As mentioned earlier, Google web crawlers refer to the automated and programmed bot that Google uses to search, check, and track new content. It's also used to refresh older content. The web crawlers search for new content by jumping through internal and external links. When it comes to Google web crawlers, the lead one is known as the Google Bot.

Learn the Framework That Took Starter Story to Over 1 Million Visitors per Month

In this course, you'll learn the Lean SEO framework and how to apply it to your business. You'll get access to 3 hours of screencasts, 100 slides, and examples from Starter Story and other sites. Sign up now to start implementing Lean SEO and growing your business.

Get Lean SEO Course

Does Google Have a Web Crawler?

Google has a web crawler, and its generic name is Google Bot. This name refers to two kinds of Google web crawlers. The first one's based on desktop crawlers that simulate desktop users and mobile crawlers that simulate mobile users.

How Many Web Crawlers Does Google Have?

Google generally uses two types of web crawling: one to find new content and the other to update already-published content.

How Often Will Google Crawl My Site?

Google crawls websites between every four and thirty days. Therefore, Google should crawl your website every four to thirty days, depending on how frequently it is used. Since Googlebot often looks for new content first, updated sites are scanned more frequently.

How Can You Improve the Crawlability of Your Site?

You need to make your website as crawlable as possible for it to be successful. The steps you can follow to improve your site's crawlability are listed below.

  1. Create excellent content that is updated frequently.
  2. Check your page's speed to increase the crawl rate limit, and make it as quick as possible.
  3. It would be best to use internal links for improved navigation.
  4. Include a focus keyword phrase, and optimize and scale the image when employing them for faster loading. Additionally, include an alt title and text with the SEO term or phrase.
  5. Generate and send a sitemap.xml to prevent crawlers from becoming perplexed and failing to index essential pages. Remember to update this frequently.
  6. Adapt your website to mobile devices.

Conclusion

Google web crawlers are essential for a site since it's the key to getting discovered and appearing in search engines. As such, you are improving your site's crawlability will always be an essential step in SEO. When you do things right, Google and other search engines will discover, crawl, and index your site more easily.

meet the author
Pat Walls

I'm Pat Walls and I created Starter Story - a website dedicated to helping people start businesses. We interview entrepreneurs from around the world about how they started and grew their businesses.