Crawl errors occur when search engines like Googlebot try to access your website but encounter issues that prevent proper crawling and indexing of your pages. Detecting and resolving crawl errors is crucial for maintaining your website’s health, improving SEO performance, and ensuring your content is discoverable by users.
What Are Crawl Errors?
Crawl errors indicate that a search engine’s crawler was unable to access a page on your site. These errors can result from various issues, including broken links, server errors, incorrect redirects, or blocked resources.
Types of Crawl Errors
- DNS Errors: Occur when Googlebot cannot communicate with your DNS server, preventing access to your website.
- Server Errors (5xx): Your server is unreachable or returns an error like 500 Internal Server Error.
- Robots.txt Fetch Errors: Googlebot can’t retrieve your
robots.txt file, potentially blocking crawling of your site.
- 404 Not Found Errors: Pages that no longer exist or are mistyped URLs result in “404” errors.
- Soft 404 Errors: Pages that return a “200 OK” status but display “Page Not Found” messages confuse search engines.
- Redirect Errors: Problems with redirects, such as redirect loops or chains, that prevent proper crawling.
How to Find Crawl Errors
The primary tool to identify crawl errors is Google Search Console (GSC). Here’s how to check:
- Log into your Google Search Console account.
- Select your website property.
- Navigate to Coverage report under the “Index” section.
- Review the list of errors, warnings, valid pages, and excluded pages.
- Click on the errors tab to see detailed URLs with crawl issues and their error types.
Common Causes of Crawl Errors and How to Fix Them
1. DNS Errors
These errors happen if your domain’s DNS server is down or misconfigured.
How to fix:
- Check your domain’s DNS settings with your domain registrar or hosting provider.
- Use DNS testing tools like DNS Checker to verify propagation and availability.
- Contact your hosting provider if the DNS server is consistently unreachable.
2. Server Errors (5xx)
Server errors indicate your hosting server is not responding correctly.
How to fix:
- Monitor server uptime and resources to prevent crashes.
- Check server logs to identify issues causing 500 errors.
- Contact your hosting provider if you cannot resolve server misconfigurations.
- Ensure your CMS, plugins, or themes are up to date and compatible.
3. Robots.txt Fetch Errors
If Googlebot can’t fetch your robots.txt, crawling may be blocked or delayed.
How to fix:
- Make sure your
robots.txt file is accessible at https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt.
- Validate your robots.txt syntax using tools like Google Robots Testing Tool.
- Check server permissions and firewall settings to allow Googlebot access.
4. 404 Not Found Errors
These errors occur when pages are deleted or URLs are changed without proper redirects.
How to fix:
- Identify broken links using Google Search Console or crawling tools like Screaming Frog.
- Implement 301 redirects from old URLs to relevant new pages.
- Fix internal or external links that point to nonexistent pages.
- Consider creating a custom 404 page that helps users navigate your site.
5. Soft 404 Errors
Pages that return a “200 OK” status but show “Not Found” content confuse search engines.
How to fix:
- Configure your server to return proper 404 HTTP status codes for missing pages.
- Check CMS templates to avoid serving “not found” content with a 200 status.
- Use Google Search Console to identify soft 404 URLs.
6. Redirect Errors
Redirect loops, chains, or broken redirects can prevent search engines from crawling pages.
How to fix:
- Avoid multiple redirects in sequence; aim for direct redirects.
- Fix redirect loops where URL A redirects to URL B and back to A.
- Use tools like HTTP Status Checker or Screaming Frog to audit redirects.
Tools to Help Find and Fix Crawl Errors
- Google Search Console: Primary tool to find crawl errors and index status.
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider: Comprehensive crawling tool to detect broken links, redirect chains, and errors.
- Ahrefs / SEMrush: SEO platforms that report crawl and backlink issues.
- Sitebulb: Visual site auditing tool for detailed crawl reports.
- Browser Developer Tools: Check network requests and status codes live.
Best Practices to Prevent Crawl Errors
- Regularly audit your website for broken links and errors.
- Maintain clean, updated sitemaps submitted to Google Search Console.
- Use consistent URL structures and avoid unnecessary URL parameters.
- Keep your server and CMS updated to avoid downtime and bugs.
- Monitor Google Search Console regularly for new crawl error alerts.
Summary
Finding and fixing crawl errors is a continuous process essential for good SEO health. Using Google Search Console along with other SEO tools, you can identify errors early, understand their causes, and apply targeted fixes to improve crawlability, user experience, and search engine rankings.