Understanding the Impact of a Sudden Increase in Crawl Requests on Your Website
Recently, a website owner observed an unexpected surge in crawl requests after implementing a sitemap. Prior to the update, the site received approximately 600-700 crawl requests daily. Following the addition of the sitemap, this number skyrocketed to nearly 95,000. This notable change raises several important questions about search engine crawling behaviors, potential SEO implications, and best practices moving forward.
The Context: Sitemap Implementation and Its Effects
The sitemap in question lists roughly 20,000 URLs. Given that the website operates in five language versions, the total number of URLs approaches 100,000. It’s common for large multilingual sites to have extensive URL sets, and submitting such a sitemap can significantly influence how search engines like Google discover and crawl content.
Why Did Crawl Requests Increase So Dramatically?
A sudden jump in crawl requests can occur when a sitemap, especially one encompassing numerous URLs, is submitted or updated. Search engines interpret this as a signal to revisit all listed pages more frequently. While this can facilitate faster indexing, it may also lead to a substantial increase in crawling activity, which is sometimes unintended.
Concerns Regarding Duplicate Content and Hreflang Usage
Hreflang Tags and Their Importance
In multilingual websites, implementing hreflang tags is essential. These tags inform search engines about the language and regional targeting of each URL, helping to serve the correct version to users and minimizing duplicate content issues.
Potential Risks Without Hreflang Implementation
Absent hreflang annotations, Google may perceive identical or very similar pages across different language versions as duplicate content. This can dilute indexing signals and potentially negatively impact SEO performance. It might also lead to less optimal regional targeting, reducing visibility for local audiences.
Is It Too Late to Add Hreflang Tags?
It is never too late to implement hreflang tags. While ideally, they should be included during initial development, adding them retroactively can improve search engine understanding and mitigate duplicate content concerns. However, it may take some time for Google to process the updates and adjust its indexing patterns accordingly.
Potential Drawbacks of a Sudden Crawl Spike
An abrupt increase in crawl activity can have several implications:
- Server Load: Excessive crawling can strain server resources, potentially impacting website performance.
- Crawling Budget Exhaustion: For larger sites, Google allocates a crawl budget. A spike could lead to rapid consumption