You’ve been putting a lot of effort into your website and are eager to see it at the top of the search results. However, your content is having trouble getting over the tenth-page barrier. If your website deserves to be ranked higher and you have optimized its content, there may be a problem with your website crawlability.
Numerous factors might contribute to a website’s poor crawlability. While some of these problems can be easily fixed, others call for a more seasoned hand. In this blog, we will analyze 5 common hurdles to effective website crawlability, along with their solutions.
What is crawlability
A search engine presents a list of websites that are related to the user’s query when they conduct a search. A search engine selects relevant web pages by carefully examining the data on various online pages. This action is referred to as crawling. A website must initially have good crawlability in order to score highly in search results.
A website must be available to search bots in order to accomplish this. Your website will have ineffective crawlability and a low SEO ranking if search bots are unable to engage with it.
It makes sense that organizations would use automation solutions when there are so many distinct factors to take into account.
5 Common crawlability issues and how to fix them
1- 404 errors
The most recurring problems that result in crawl errors are generally 404 errors. When opening a web page, a 404 or Not Found error message signifies that the server was unable to locate the requested web page. Although Google has said that 404 errors do not have an adverse effect on a site’s rankings because these pages will not be scanned, it is best to be on the lookout for them as a number of them can ultimately degrade the user experience.
To prevent a poor user experience, you must reroute users away from invalid URLs (to equivalent URLs if possible). Redirect every error page to a corresponding page on the live site by going through the list of 404 errors. As an alternative, you may send search engines the 410 HTTP status code for the page to let them know it has been permanently erased.
2- Page duplicates
Another typical SEO problem that might affect crawlability is page duplication. When different web pages with the same content may be loaded from different URLs, page duplication occurs.
When different web pages with the same content may be loaded from different URLs, page duplication occurs. For instance, both the www version and the non-www version of your domain can lead to your website’s home page. Page duplicates may not have an impact on website visitors, but they can change how a search engine perceives your site.
It is more difficult for search engines to decide which page should be prioritized because of the duplicate content. Because bots only have a limited amount of time to spend crawling each page, they can potentially be problematic. Bots indexing the same content repeatedly decrease your crawl budget for crucial pages. The bot should ideally crawl every page just once.
3- Issue with your sitemap pages
A sitemap serves as your website’s blueprint. All of your sites, videos, and other crucial information ought to be included in it. Additionally, it should show how pages relate to one another, how they are interconnected, and how users can move between them. Search engines may more easily determine which pages on your website are the most crucial by using the sitemap. This has an impact on where they appear in search results.
The information on your sitemap determines how valuable it is. Link optimization and logical structure are essential. Search engine bots may become confused if your sitemap contains the incorrect pages. This might stop significant pages from being indexed.
4- Slow page speed
We’ve seen how inefficient sitemaps, broken links, and scanning irrelevant pages may waste a bot’s time on your website. Additionally, the crawler may go through your sites more quickly the faster they load.
A helpful tool that can inform you if your website loads quickly enough are Google PageSpeed Insights. You could wish to examine your channel bandwidth if your speeds are inadequate.
Alternatively, your website can be running outdated code. This could be a result of the initial design being ineffective while functioning adequately. It could also be the situation if previously written code has undergone several upgrades and additions without taking into account its overall effectiveness and design.
To recognize and fix these issues, you should make sure that web pages load as quickly as possible because search engines are aiming for an overall favorable user experience. To increase page load time, try minifying your CSS and Javascript and compressing your image files. Use Google Lighthouse to measure your page load speed to make sure your web pages are loading as quickly as possible. It offers an analysis of the performance of your homepage and makes recommendations for enhancing the speed of your entire website.
5- Using HTTP instead of HTTPS
The security of servers has become an important factor in crawling and indexing. The common protocol for transmitting data from a web server to a browser is called HTTP. HTTPS, where the “S” stands for secure, is HTTP’s more secure alternative.
To establish a safe, encrypted connection between two systems, HTTP uses an SSL certificate. Google revealed in December 2015 that it was modifying its indexing engine to give HTTPS pages priority and crawl them first by default, it is crucial to take note of this. This indicates that search engines are pressuring websites to migrate to HTTPS. For Google to crawl your website more quickly, we encourage you to purchase an SSL certificate for it and switch your complete website over to HTTPS.
Conclusion
Most companies today understand the importance of having attractive, interesting websites. Maybe fewer people consider the significance of SEO, especially crawlability. It’s simple to miss with so much more to think about. However, every company that depends on web traffic does so at its own peril.
You will appear higher on SERP lists and ahead of rivals if your website is easy to crawl. Your site receives fewer site visitors, fewer consumers, and lesser earnings as a result of poor crawlability.
It would be an excellent idea to address crawlability now if you have been ignoring it.
