What are the principal factors responsible for a website’s rank in the search engines? Well, of course, you need a functional website with relevant content focusing on target keywords. These are the primary components affecting the crawlability and indexability of web pages. Unfortunately, large websites often encounter problems where search engine bots cannot access some web pages, impacting a website’s rank, visibility, and traffic drive.

Why does this happen? Generally, a website with complicated architecture is prone to crawl errors because of the vast content libraries and the lack of proper technical optimization. With too many web pages on your website, it is indeed challenging to maintain all of them. Hence, disarranged and overlooked sections of your website hinder web crawlers or spiders, resulting in poor search engine result page (SERP) performance.

It is a significant matter of consideration because failing to deliver a seamless user experience can result in losing many potential clients. So, in this blog, we will discuss the popular crawl errors and ways to fix them. We ensure it will be a helpful read for boosted performance of your SEO efforts.

Crawl Errors: Why Should You Resolve Them?

Did you ever receive a 404 error or DNS server issue while trying to open a web page? We guess most of us have faced such glitches or issues at least once! Undoubtedly, it is annoying, especially when you are in a rush and in the middle of some crucial work! Such errors are commonly referred to as crawl errors because the web page you try to open is not accessible to search engine bots. As a result, failure to assess and recognize the web page content does not allow crawl bots or spiders to index them. And you end up with one of the crawl issues!

Specifically, large websites with complex site architecture, excessive and unorganized content, and too many web pages experience crawl errors. It means that if search engine crawlers cannot identify your content path, users cannot read it, too. Consequently, you have an overall low website performance.

Recognizing the type and significance of the errors and addressing them promptly is crucial because:

• Improve Search Rankings– As you know, search engine bots always crawl and index web pages with a well-organized layout, streamlined content management, and exemplary user experience. In other words, when crawlers or spiders can assess your web pages and understand the content, you have a better scope for improved search result ranking. Thus, fixing crawl errors can help you to perform better in organic search.
• Enhance Online Visibility– SEO or search engine optimization is the most cost-effective marketing strategy to increase online visibility and reach a wide section of your target audience. Do you know moving up a single position in the search results can increase CTR by 30.8%? Yes, such is the impact of search ranking on visibility and organic traffic! Hence, as your website receives search ranking prominence, it becomes more easily visible and accessible.
• Attract Web Traffic– When the crawl bots cannot index your web pages, you miss out on a considerable section of web traffic. As your website won’t be visible through an organic search, you will have fewer website visitors, which significantly drops the conversion rate, and you fall behind your competitors.
• Promote User Experience– User experience is the driving factor for converting website visitors into paying customers. Unfortunately, crawl errors result in poor user experience, leading to increased bounce rates. Indeed, it affects the trustworthiness and reputation of your business or company, cutting down revenue generation. You don’t want to leave your website visitors disappointed because they may never return!
• Increase Crawl Budget– A website has many web page URLs. Search bots spend specific time and resources for crawling and indexing a certain number of URLs or web pages. This is known as a crawl budget. However, when there are crawl errors, the search engine bots or crawlers face stumbling blocks. It is a waste of the crawl budget, which also disrupts indexing valuable content on your website. Nonetheless, rectifying the crawl errors can expand the crawl budget.
• Boost Website Performance– The ultimate purpose of SEO is to improve your website’s SERP rankings for higher visibility and organic traffic. When you have crawl errors, unfortunately, your SEO efforts go in vain! The overall website performance is drastically affected as you receive increased bounce rates, low engagement rates, and fewer conversions. Thus, to enhance your site’s SEO performance, all you need to do is evaluate and fix crawl errors.

Major Crawl Errors and Ways to Fix Them

Now that you know the significance of fixing crawl errors, here are the six predominant crawl errors that negatively affect a website’s performance and a brand’s online presence. We have also discussed ways you can rectify them for improved search result ranking, visibility, organic traffic, and user experience. So, here it goes.

i. 404 Errors or Page Not Found– These are the most prevalent types of crawl errors where a user cannot find the requested page because it does not exist. It means the crawlers tried to access a page which does not exist on the server. No matter how much effort you put into entering the web page address by modifying it, you still encounter a 404 error. The fundamental cause behind 404 errors is deleting a page without a redirect, broken links, or a page that never existed.

What happens when your users encounter a 404 error? Evidently, they will leave your site and look somewhere for information. It delivers a poor user experience, which hurts your website’s SERP rankings. How can you resolve 404 errors?

• Use 301 Redirects– Whenever you restructure or remove a page, use 301 Redirects to inform search engines and users about the new page location.
• Customize 404 Pages– To keep your website visitors engaged and enhance user experience, you can customize 404 pages, which lead them to relevant content.
• Manage Broken Links– Find the internal and external broken links with SEO tools and fix them by redirecting them to the appropriate page

ii. 403 Errors or Forbidden– Sometimes, a user does not have the necessary permissions to access the web page content and faces a 403 error. It occurs when crawlers have indexed private web pages, but users cannot access them because they have insufficient permissions. But surprisingly, users can access the pages by logging into the Content Delivery Network (CDN).

When a website has too many web pages, search engine crawlers often fail to recognize and index the public pages. As a result, web pages with crucial information become inaccessible to users, reducing website traffic and audience engagement. Check out the ways to rectify 403 errors:

• Reset File Permissions– If file permissions are misconfigured, 403 errors will occur. So, you can set your file permissions to default mode to promote accessibility.
• Verify IP Address– Ensure that your domain directs to the appropriate IP address, which must be your hosting provider’s.
• Check the .htaccess File– When the .htaccess file is misconfigured or attacked by malware, 403 forbidden errors are common. You can create a new .htaccess file or replace it with an FTP file.

iii. DNS Errors– DNS or Domain Name System error occurs when the server fails to translate the domain name into an IP address. Crawlers cannot access the website, and users receive a DNS error. It is a server-side problem and primarily occurs in cases like expired domain names, incompatibilities, and misconfigurations.

Here are the tips to fix DNS errors:

• Change DNS Server Address– You can choose a different server if your server is not working. It can resolve the issue.
• Disable IPv6– Currently, there are two types of IP addresses- IPv4 and IPv6. The latter is the latest IP version, which has not yet been adopted by many websites and DNS servers. So, you can disable IPv6 to fix DNS errors.

iv. 5xx Errors– 5xx is a server error that typically occurs when your hosting server cannot complete a task requested by crawlers. Hence, visitors cannot process requests like product purchases, web page access, etc. This server-side error is common in large websites because they experience high traffic and have too many components. As a result, the server often cannot support the load and crashes.

So, what happens to a website when it receives a 5xx error? Sadly, search engines cannot crawl and index the web page content. Naturally, your audiences cannot view the requested page, which leads to poor SERP ranking and visibility. You miss out on significant traffic drives. The good news is you can resolve 5xx errors through the following steps:

• Employ APM Tools– Use Application Performance Monitoring tools to diagnose the cause of 5xx errors and fix them effectively.
• Enhance Code Performance– Sometimes, 5xx errors occur due to internal issues like code bugs. The server cannot process a request due to a bug. Therefore, when you upgrade your CMS (Content Management System), employ debugging.
• Upgrade Hosting Platform– As a website grows, it requires an upgraded hosting platform to support increased traffic volume and seamless website performance. So, strengthen your server’s requirements.

v. Duplicate Content– When a website has similar content on multiple pages, you can be penalized by search engines. A search engine bot or crawler ranks and indexes web pages based on the uniqueness and relevance of content. However, when two or more web pages contain similar content or meta description, it confuses the search engine bots. They do not know which page to index and look elsewhere for more authentic content. In most cases, none of your web pages with the same content gets ranked, and you receive a penalty.

The error occurs when there are multiple versions of the same web page, improper URL structure, or content that has been republished across several channels (syndicated content). Duplicate content severely affects your website’s SEO performance, and you must rectify it immediately.

• Add Canonical Tags– Use canonical tags for each piece of content so that search engine crawlers can identify the original content and index it.
• Use 301 Redirects– Always use a 301 redirect to guide duplicate content to the canonical URL.
• Classify Content– Use taxonomy to classify your content into tags and categories. It will help to avoid duplicate content issues.
• Implement No-Index Tags– Prevent search engine bots from indexing SERPs using meta robots no-index.
• Consolidate Duplicate Web Pages– Recognize and unify duplicate web pages with the same content. You can use 301 redirects.

vi. Redirect Chains– In a redirect chain, when a user opens a URL, he is redirected to another URL, and the second URL redirects to another. The process continues until the user ends up with the first URL. Usually, a single redirect does not have a significant impact. However, multiple redirects or redirect chains lead to a reduced crawl budget, which affects search engine ranking and user experience.

Redirect chains occur because the URL structure changes after a website is consolidated or modified, lack of coordination, and the expansion of a website. They are often created unintentionally or may even build up over time. It slows page speed and hinders the browsing experience. However, you can fix such redirect chains through the following steps:

• Recognize Redirect Chains– Before fixing redirect chains, you must identify one using SEO tools. Ensure that the website structure is simple by removing inefficient or unnecessary redirects.
• Use 301 and 302 Redirects– If you have to use redirects, you can implement 301 and 302 redirects. These are permanent redirects indicating that the requested URL has been moved to a new location.
• Perform Regular Audits– The best way to prevent unnecessary redirects is to conduct regular crawls and website audits to promptly identify a redirect and fix it immediately.

Key Takeaways

It often becomes impossible to avoid crawl errors, especially when you are handling a website with intricate structure, lots of content, too many web pages, and frequent updates. Sometimes, crawl errors occur unintentionally, as you may overlook certain components of a vast website. Hence, performing regular audits is the most effective way to prevent crawl errors as you stay updated with your website’s performance. You must implement the latest technological developments to ensure your website runs smoothly, as you fulfill the changing demands of search engines and users.

Crawl errors are undoubtedly harmful to your site’s search result ranking, visibility, engagement, and user experience. It negatively impacts your brand’s online reputation, and you lose the trust of your target audiences. Therefore, have a streamlined website maintenance strategy to avoid misconfigurations and encourage efficient crawling and indexing. It will keep you competitive at any point!

If you found this blog helpful and want to learn more about such useful and insightful content, please visit us at Black Marlin Technologies We would love to keep you updated and ahead!

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Q. What is a crawl error?

A. A crawl error occurs when crawlers or search engine bots cannot recognize and index the content of a web page. The crawlers, also known as spiders, encounter problems while navigating a web page, and hence, users are unable to access a particular URL or page. The entire process of ranking a website depends on the crawling and indexing of content. However, pages with unorganized content and inappropriate structure are usually difficult to crawl and index.

Q. What are the fundamental causes of crawl errors?

A. Crawl errors may occur due to several reasons. The primary causes involve a change of URL structure, a page moved to a new location, failure to translate the domain name into an IP address, server issues, duplicate content, deleting a page without a redirect, misconfigurations, and unnecessary redirects.

Q. How do crawl errors affect SEO performance?

A. Crawl errors significantly affect SEO performance as they lead to poor SERP ranking, decreased visibility, less website traffic, bad user experience, and waste of crawl budget. It means that your SEO efforts do not deliver expected results, and you experience considerable loss.

Q. What should you do to prevent crawl errors?

A. You can prevent crawl errors by performing website audits regularly and keeping track of your site’s performance. Always use dedicated SEO tools to identify crawl errors and resolve them immediately.