Guidelines for Google Crawling PLUS The Tips

How to make it easy for Google crawlers to index your website? Obviously, every webmaster worth their salt wants their content to stand out in the Google SERP. Learn further about the following comprehensive guide on how to make your links crawlable.

A Guide to Crawling and Link Building

The crawling process starts with a list of web addresses taken from the previous crawling activities and sitemaps shared by website owners. The way crawlers work is by using links on particular websites to find other new web pages. What you have to know is Google can only detect links with < a > tag on them that match the URL. 

Here are some considerations that you have to keep in mind to make your links crawlable. Here, cmlabs outlines the conditions you must pay attention to in order for your links to be crawlable.

Using the Proper < a > Tag

To reiterate what we have previously mentioned, you have to understand that Google can only detect and follow links if they use < a > tag with an href attribute. Other formats are not supported by Google, and therefore Google crawlers cannot follow such links with unsupported formats. 

Another point to consider is Google cannot follow < a > links without an href tag or other tags that function as links because of problems related to their scripts. Here are some examples of followable or unfollowable links. href.

 Links with other formats cannot be followed by Google's crawlers. Google also can't follow <a> links without an href tag or another tag that acts as a link due to script events. Here are examples of links that Google can and can't follow.

Followable Links

• <a href=”https://example.com”>
• <a href=”/relative/path/file”>

Unfollowable Links

• <a routerLink="some/path">
• <span href="https://example.com">
• <a onclick="goto('https://example.com')">

Linking Resolvable URLs

Aside from using the proper tag, you have to make sure that the URLs linked by < a > tag is a verified web addresses that Googlebot could send requests to. Pay attention to the following examples.

Resolvable URLs

• https://example.com/stuff
• /products
• /products.php?id=123

Unresolvable URLs

• javascript:goTo('products')
• javascript:window.location.href='/products'

In conclusion, these are the two methods that you can use to make your links crawlable. 

ROBOT.TXT

File used by crawler in a website page to find out which files to crawl or not to crawl.

CRAWLER/SPIDER

A bot belonging to a search engine (for instance, Google) searches or crawls the web pages so that all content can be indexed in the database.

How to Maximize Crawling for SEO

In order for your pages to show up in SERP or search results, you have to make sure that your pages have been crawled and indexed by Google beforehand. Pay close attention to the following points if you want to ensure that the crawling process goes smoothly. crawling, pay attention to the following points.

1. Give Access Permissions to the Important Pages so That Robot.txt can Crawl Them

Robot.txt is a part of web pages that function to make the crawling process easier and faster. In order to do that, you just have to add robot.txt to the list of tool options on your site. You can then give permissions and restrictions to crawlers on whichever web pages you want in a matter of seconds.

2. Pay Attention to the Redirect Code

On a website, it will be easier to avoid one or two redirect chains in all domains. However, several redirects packed together are a different matter altogether as it will be harder to avoid and deal with. As a result, your crawl limit will be affected and the whole crawling process won’t perform as effectively in indexing your pages.

3. Do not let HTTP Error Affect Crawl

In the middle of the crawling process, getting 404 and 410-page errors would be frustrating indeed for anyone trying to load their websites. That is exactly why you have to fix all of the 4xx and 5xx errors as soon as possible. Because not only will it increase your users’ experience, but it will definitely make the crawling process easier in indexing your web pages.

4. Use HTML

For the time being, it is said that a crawler’s performance got a little better at crawling JavaScript. Then again, there are still lots of search engines out there that have not yet used JavaScript. Because of that, you should keep using HTML whenever possible. 

5. Taking Care of URL Parameter

You have to remember that separate URLs are considered separate pages by a crawler. It will be better for you to let Google know these URL parameters. If you’re asking why, it is because doing that will make the crawling process more effective, and also you can avoid any concern about the possibility of duplicate content.

6. Update Your Sitemap

An updated sitemap will make it easier for bots to understand as well as identify where the internal links are headed. Also, it is important to always keep in mind that you have to upload the latest version of robot.txt aside from an updated sitemap.

7. Use Hreflang Tags

Hreflang tags are used by the spiders or crawlers of search engines to analyze the localized pages during the crawling process. These tags are usually located in your page’s header where the supported code language is “lang_code”.

Use the Crawling Guide for Your Website

Agency Website

Google has to be able to index an agency website so that it will appear in SERP whenever clients search for them.

E-Commerce Website

You have to make sure that your website will show up on Google search as it will make your potential customers aware of the products you are trying to sell.

Brand Website

If your brand website appears on Google search, it will have many benefits for you personally such as an increase in sales, raising awareness about the web itself, and also improving your online branding.

Blog Website

A blog is a place where its writers share their thoughts and stories, however, it can be said that a blog also functions as a wealth of information for those who seek them.

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