What is a “crawl spike”?

A “crawl spike” occurs when search engines, such as Google, suddenly send a much higher number of requests to your website than normal. This means that Googlebot (or another crawler) is trying to crawl a large number of pages in a short period of time.

For a Web site like Ralfvanveen.com, this can signal increased interest from Google. It can also cause technical problems if not managed properly. Read about what a crawl spike is, why it happens and how to deal with it.

What exactly is a crawl spike?

A crawl spike is a temporary spike in the number of requests a search engine crawler sends to your website. Normally, Googlebot crawls your website according to a set rhythm.

The rate is determined by your site’s crawl budget: a combination of your server capacity and the degree to which Google expects new content or updates on your site. During a crawl spike, however, the number of requests suddenly increases rapidly, sometimes by hundreds or thousands of hits per minute.

How do you recognize a crawl spike?

You can recognize a crawl spike by a sudden increase in server requests from Googlebot or other crawlers. A higher server load, which can lead to slow load times or even downtime, is also characteristic of a crawl spike. Also look for logs in your server or tools, such as Google Search Console, that show unusual activity.

What causes a crawl spike?

A sudden increase in crawl activity by search engines can have several causes. Major changes to your website, such as a new structure or the addition of many pages, can prompt Googlebot to index these changes quickly. Also, errors such as 404 pages, redirect loops or incorrectly set parameters can cause confusion, leading to excessive crawling.

In addition, a spike in popularity, such as from a viral blog post and new backlinks, may encourage Google to examine your site more intensely. In rare cases, technical errors on the part of search engines themselves can contribute to unusual crawl behavior.

Why can a crawl spike be problematic?

While a crawl spike can be a sign that search engines are interested in your content, it can also cause problems If your hosting server is not optimized, the extra load leads to slow load times or even downtime. Slower load times frustrate visitors, which increases bounce rates and hurts your rankings. Large spikes can cause search engines to focus on less important pages, while crucial pages are not crawled.

How do you handle a crawl spike?

Effectively managing a crawl spike requires understanding the cause and a plan to optimize your server and site settings. Here are some concrete steps:

  1. Analyze your server logs:
    Review your server logs to determine which crawler is responsible for the spike and which pages are being visited. For Ralfvanveen.com, I use tools such as Google Search Console, Logging or Screaming Frog to gain insight.
  2. Check your crawl budget:
    Make sure your crucial pages are prioritized in the crawl process. You do this by excluding unimportant pages with a robots.txt file or noindex tags.

An example of a simple robots.txt:
User-agent: *

Disallow: /testpage/

  1. Optimize your server capacity:
    If you notice that your server is getting overloaded, it is necessary to upgrade your hosting package or deploy caching solutions such as Cloudflare. For a site like Ralfvanveen.com, I make sure the server has enough resources to handle a temporary spike.

Manage your sitemap:
A clear, up-to-date XML sitemap helps crawlers navigate your site more efficiently. Avoid including irrelevant or duplicate pages.

5. Use crawl rate settings:
In Google Search Console, you can limit Googlebot’s crawl speed. This is a temporary solution. This feature should be used with care because it can also mean that Google takes longer to index new content.

When should you worry?

A crawl spike is not always a bad thing. It can be a sign that Google wants to understand your website better or that your content is becoming more popular. However, you should be concerned if the server is regularly overloaded, if important pages are not being crawled or indexed, or if the spike coincides with technical errors such as 404 notifications or redirect loops.

A crawl spike is sometimes a challenge, but with the right strategy, you can make sure your website keeps running smoothly without compromising your SEO performance. For Ralfvanveen.com, it’s important to proactively monitor server logs, manage the crawl budget and optimize server capacity.

By paying attention to these aspects, you can make a crawl spike an opportunity rather than a problem.

Senior SEO-specialist

Ralf van Veen

Senior SEO-specialist
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I have been working for 12 years as an independent SEO specialist for companies (in the Netherlands and abroad) that want to rank higher in Google in a sustainable manner. During this period I have consulted A-brands, set up large-scale international SEO campaigns and coached global development teams in the field of search engine optimization.

With this broad experience within SEO, I have developed the SEO course and helped hundreds of companies with improved findability in Google in a sustainable and transparent way. For this you can consult my portfolio, references and collaborations.

This article was originally published on 21 January 2025. The last update of this article was on 21 January 2025. The content of this page was written and approved by Ralf van Veen. Learn more about the creation of my articles in my editorial guidelines.