Crawling And Indexing: Best Guide by Hawkeye Digital Creators

Google is the world’s largest search engine, processing billions of searches daily. But have you ever wondered how Google actually discovers your website, how it reads your content, and how it decides whether your pages deserve to appear in search results?

This entire process revolves around Crawling and Indexing — the two most fundamental pillars of SEO.

Whether you’re an SEO beginner, a website owner, or a digital marketer, understanding how these systems work helps you build a site that Google can easily understand and reward with better rankings. At Hawkeye Digital Creators, we believe SEO becomes far simpler once you understand how Google thinks.

In this detailed guide, we will break down:

• What crawling means
• How indexing works
• How Googlebot scans websites
• What helps and hurts crawling
• How to make sure Google indexes your pages
• Tools you must use
• Common crawlability issues
• Advanced methods to improve indexing

Let’s dive in.

What is Crawling? Understanding Google’s First Step

Crawling is the process where Googlebot, Google’s automated software, visits your website to discover pages, content, images, links, and updates.

Imagine Googlebot as a digital traveler who moves from one webpage to another through hyperlinks, scanning everything it finds.

Why Does Google Crawl Websites?

Google crawls your website to:

• Discover new pages
• Identify updated content
• Understand your site structure
• Figure out relationships between pages
• Collect content to store for indexing

Without crawling, Google cannot know your website exists, which means your site won’t appear anywhere in search results.

How Google’s Crawlers Work

When Googlebot visits a website, it follows a structured method:

1. Google Discovers the URL

A URL enters Google’s crawl queue through:

• Backlinks from other websites
• Submitting a sitemap
• URL submitted manually in Search Console
• Internal links
• Google’s previous crawl history

If Google cannot discover your URL, it will never crawl or index it.

2. Googlebot Analyzes the Page

Once it lands on the page, it checks:

• HTML structure
• Metadata
• Page content
• Canonical tags
• Page speed
• Scripts
• Robots.txt rules
• Internal & external links

This helps Google understand how your page fits into the web ecosystem.

3. Googlebot Follows Internal Links

Internal links help crawlers move deeper into your website. If your internal linking is weak, crawl depth decreases and many pages remain undiscovered.

4. Google Adds the URL to the Crawl Scheduler

Google decides how often to crawl your website based on:

• Site authority
• Server performance
• Content freshness
• Historical crawling patterns
• URL importance

5. Google Sends Data to the Indexer

Once crawling finishes, the collected content is then sent to Google’s indexing system, which determines what will be shown in search results.

What is Indexing? Google’s Way of Storing Your Content

Indexing is the process where Google analyzes your page content and stores it in its massive database — called the Google Index.

If crawling is Google reading your website, indexing is Google deciding where to store it and what queries it matches.

What Happens During Indexing?

Google evaluates:

• Page content
• Keywords and relevance
• Meta tags (title, description)
• Canonicalized version
• Structured data
• Images & alt text
• Page usability
• Mobile-friendliness

If Google thinks your page is valuable, it indexes it. If not, it may skip indexing.

Crawling vs Indexing: What’s the Difference?

To simplify:

You can have crawled pages that are not indexed — a common SEO problem.

How Google Decides Whether to Index Your Page

Google does NOT index every page it crawls. Reasons include:

• Thin content
• Duplicate content
• Low value or outdated content
• Blocked by robots.txt
• Noindex tag
• Slow loading
• Errors during crawling
• Poor internal linking
• Keyword stuffing or spam signals

To appear in Google Search, your page must be worth indexing.

How Google Discoveries New URLs

Google uses several methods to find your pages:

1. Sitemaps

An XML sitemap is a roadmap of all important URLs. Submitting it through Google Search Console helps Google identify new or updated pages faster.

2. Backlinks from Other Sites

If another website links to yours, Googlebot often follows that link to crawl your site.

3. Internal Links

Google relies on your internal linking to understand website hierarchy.

4. URL Submission in Search Console

You can force Google to re-crawl pages using the URL Inspection Tool.

5. RSS Feeds & Content Platforms

Blogs, CMS systems, and content feeds help Google detect changes.

Robots.txt: Controlling What Google Can Crawl

Your robots.txt file tells Google what it can and cannot crawl.

Example:

Mistakes in robots.txt can block your entire site from being crawled — which kills your rankings.

Noindex Tag: Controlling Indexing

You can tell Google not to index a page using:

Used properly, this helps block non-essential pages like:

• Login pages
• Duplicate pages
• Thank you pages
• Test URLs

But adding it by mistake can remove important pages from Google search.

What Affects Google’s Crawling Frequency?

Google decides how often it should crawl your site based on:

1. Website Authority

High-authority sites get crawled more frequently.

2. Content Freshness

Updating content regularly attracts more crawling.

3. Website Speed & Server Health

If your server is slow, Google reduces crawl rate to avoid overloading it.

4. Internal Linking

More links = easier discovery.

5. XML Sitemap Quality

Accurate sitemaps help crawlers prioritize URLs.

Common Crawling Problems and How to Fix Them

1. Broken Links (404 Errors)

Too many broken links confuse crawlers. Fix or redirect them.

2. Duplicate Content

Use canonical tags to point Google to the preferred version.

3. Slow Website Speed

Slow pages waste crawl budget. Optimize hosting, images, and scripts.

4. Blocked Resources

If CSS or JS files are blocked, Googlebot cannot understand your layout.

5. Incorrect Robots.txt Settings

Never block essential pages or entire directories.

6. Insufficient Internal Linking

Google may never reach deep pages with no internal links.

7. Long Redirect Chains

Too many redirects waste crawl resources.

How to Ensure Google Indexes Your Content

1. Create High-Quality Content

Google indexes pages that offer value.
Original, detailed, unique content boosts indexing chances.

2. Improve Internal Linking

Link important pages from:

• Homepage
• Navigation menu
• Category pages
• Blogs

3. Use Google Search Console

Upload your sitemap
? Inspect URL
? Request Indexing

This signals Google to prioritize your page.

4. Optimize Technical SEO

Technical health directly impacts crawlability:

• Fast loading
• Mobile-friendly
• No broken pages
• Optimized code

5. Avoid Duplicate Content

Use canonical tags and unique text for each page.

6. Build Quality Backlinks

When other websites link to your content, Google sees it as important and crawls more often.

Understanding Crawl Budget

Crawl budget refers to the number of pages Googlebot crawls on your website within a given time.

Factors affecting crawl budget:

• Site size
• Complexity
• Crawl errors
• Page importance
• Server performance

If you have a large website, managing crawl budget is crucial to ensure all important pages get crawled.

How JavaScript Impacts Crawling & Indexing

JS-based websites often face crawling issues because:

• Google needs to render JS
• Rendering uses more computational resources
• Some JS frameworks hide content from crawlers

To solve this:

• Use server-side rendering (SSR)
• Pre-render content
• Ensure important content appears in HTML

Mobile-First Indexing: What It Means

Google now uses the mobile version of your website for indexing and ranking.

If your mobile site:

• Loads slowly
• Has missing content
• Has poor design

your rankings suffer.

Structured Data Helps Google Understand Your Content

Structured data (schema markup) helps Google understand:

• Products
• Articles
• FAQs
• Events
• Local businesses

It does not guarantee ranking, but improves indexing clarity.

Why Some Pages Get Crawled but Not Indexed

This is a common issue with messages like:

• Discovered – currently not indexed
• Crawled – not indexed

Reasons include:

• Content is thin
• Content has no search value
• Duplicate content
• Low-quality user signals
• Slow page speed

Improving content quality usually resolves this.

Tools to Monitor Crawling & Indexing

1. Google Search Console

• URL inspection
• Coverage reports
• Sitemap submission

• Crawl stats

2. Screaming Frog

Excellent for crawling your own site like Googlebot.

3. Ahrefs / SEMrush

Helps diagnose technical and indexing issues.

4. Google PageSpeed Insights

Checks your performance and crawlability friendliness.

How to Improve Your Site for Better Crawling And Indexing

Here are long-term strategies:

1. Clean Website Architecture

Use a pyramid-like structure:

Home
? Category Pages
? Subcategories
? Blog pages

2. Fresh, Relevant Content

Publishing consistent, updated content increases crawl rate.

3. Fast, Secure Hosting

Better servers improve crawl budget.

4. Short, SEO-Friendly URLs

Simple URLs help both users and crawlers.

5. Proper Redirects

Use 301 permanent redirects, avoid chains.

6. Avoid Orphan Pages

Every page should be linked from another page.

7. Improve User Experience

Better UX indirectly boosts indexing and ranking.

Future of Crawling & Indexing: AI and MUM

Google is evolving towards advanced AI systems like:

• Google MUM (Multitask Unified Model)
• Google’s AI-based Crawlers
• Entity-based Indexing

This means Google is getting better at understanding:

• Context
• User intent
• Relationships between topics
• Multimedia indexing (images/videos)

Businesses must focus more on:

• High-value content
• Semantic SEO
• Better user experience

Conclusion

Crawling and indexing are the heart of how Google discovers, reads, understands, and displays your website in search results. Without crawlability and indexability, even the best content remains invisible to users.

To grow your presence in search engines:

• Make your site easy to crawl
• Maintain clean technical structure
• Produce high-quality content
• Strengthen internal linking
• Keep your site fast and mobile-friendly
• Use tools like Search Console to monitor your performance

At Hawkeye Digital Creators, we believe knowledge is power — and understanding how Google checks websites helps you build SEO strategies that work long-term.