As a marketing agency, we get this question all the time: ‘How often does Google actually crawl my site?’
It’s a great question because understanding Google’s crawling and indexing behaviour can make a big difference in how quickly your content gets noticed by Google.
The truth? It really depends, but let’s break it down in a way that makes sense for your website.
Fun fact about Google Crawling:
Did you know that Google processes over 40,000 user searches every second? That’s more than 3.5 billion searches per day and 1.2 trillion per year!
To keep up with this huge demand, Google updates its search algorithms hundreds of times every year, ensuring users always get the most relevant and useful results.
With so much happening behind the scenes, staying on top of SEO best practices is key to getting your site noticed.
What is Google Crawling?
Before we get into how often Google visits your site, let’s make it clear what crawling means – Google’s bots regularly scan websites, collecting information about their content.
The goal is to ensure your site is often crawled by Google, so your content can appear in search results faster – and with the right SEO strategy, secure top positions!
As an SEO agency, we see some sites get crawled multiple times a day, while others might only get a visit every few weeks or even months, making it difficult for business owners to get their content in front of their target audience.
Let’s see why this happens.
How often does Google crawl your site?
Google’s crawl frequency isn’t random- it’s based on specific factors.
Here’s what we’ve learned from managing different client websites:
➡ Website Authority & Popularity
High-authority sites (think BBC, Amazon, Wikipedia) are crawled frequently because Google sees them as crucial sources of information with trusted content.
If your website is well-established and has strong backlinks, you’ll likely see more frequent crawling.
➡ Update Frequency
One thing we always tell clients: keep your content fresh!
Websites that regularly publish new blogs, news articles, or product updates tend to be crawled more often.
➡ Crawl Budget
Google assigns a crawl budget to every site – the number of pages it will crawl within a given time.
If your site is large, Google won’t necessarily crawl every page daily.
We’ve seen crawl rates improve dramatically when optimising site structures.
➡ Site Structure & Internal Linking
We always stress the importance of good internal linking.
A well-structured website helps Googlebot find and index your pages faster, leading to better rankings.
Fun fact: we provide internal linking recommendations monthly to our clients – it’s what has drastically helped them secure top positions on search results!
➡ Server Performance & Page Speed
Speed matters – both for users and for Google. If your site is slow or has server errors, Google may crawl it less often.
We frequently audit websites for speed improvements, as this can have a direct impact on crawl rates.
➡ XML Sitemaps & Requesting Indexing
We always recommend submitting an XML sitemap in Google Search Console.
This makes it easier for Google to discover and crawl your pages efficiently.
Need urgent indexing? The “Request Indexing” feature can speed things up.
➡ Robots.txt and Noindex Directives
Accidentally blocking Googlebot is a common issue we come across.
If your robots.txt file or “noindex” tags are used incorrectly, your pages might not be crawled or indexed at all.
We always double-check this for our clients, such a quick and easy fix that could change the game for you.
How can you get Google to crawl your site more often?
Want more frequent site crawling? Here are the steps we take for our clients:
Regularly publish fresh content – Blogs, product updates, and news articles all help!
Improve internal linking – Make sure your important pages are easily discoverable and easily accessible.
Submit your sitemap – If you haven’t done this, we can help you set it up, send us a message today!
Fix broken links and errors – 404 errors and broken links can slow Google down.
Speed up your website – A fast-loading site encourages Google to visit more often. We recommend checking your site speed using Google’s PageSpeed Insights free tool.
Get quality backlinks – More backlinks = more authority = more crawling.
When a page is published or updated, Google doesn’t necessarily crawl it immediately. The time it takes for Google to crawl a website depends on a few factors, such as:
Website Size & Complexity
Large websites with thousands of pages may take longer to be fully crawled compared to smaller sites with fewer pages.
Google prioritises crawling based on importance and internal linking (we can’t emphasise internal linking enough 👀)
Crawl Demand & Prioritisation
Google prioritises crawling pages that are frequently updated, linked to from other important sites, or receiving significant user engagement.
If your site has high demand, Google may visit and index more often.
Requesting Indexing
As mentioned above, if you need a new or updated page crawled quickly, you can manually request indexing through Google Search Console.
While this isn’t instant, it can speed up the process significantly!
External Factors
Googlebot’s crawling speed is also impacted by external factors like server performance, website errors, or even broader core algorithm updates.
We’d say that it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks for Google to crawl a page.
One thing is guaranteed: fresh, authoritative, and well-optimised sites are likely to be crawled much faster.
Need help with crawling and indexing?
To make it easier, we’ve put together a quick action checklist with key steps you can take to improve Google crawling and indexing.
👉 Save the checklist below!
There’s no universal answer to how often Google crawls your site, but knowing what influences it gives you more control.
Regular updates, a strong technical foundation, and a well-structured site all play a role in getting Google to visit more frequently.
At Amphiseo, we make sure websites are optimised for better crawling and indexing.
If you want Google to stop by your site more often and get your content ranking faster, let’s have a chat.
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