How to Remove Crawl Errors and Improve Your Website’s SEO

As a Google SEO professional, it's crucial to understand and address crawl errors on your website. Crawl errors can severely impact your website's visibility in search engine results and your overall ranking. Google's Search Console is a powerful tool for identifying and resolving these issues. In this article, we will explore how to create a profile in Google Search Console, identify and fix common crawl errors, and track your progress over time.

Creating a Profile in Google Search Console

The first step in managing crawl errors is to create a profile in Google Search Console (formerly known as Webmaster Tools). Here’s how you can do it:

Sign into your Google Account: If you don't already have a Google account, create one at Go to Google Search Console: Visit Verify your website: Follow the on-screen instructions to verify your ownership of your website. This can be done through HTML tags, AMP files, mobile apps, or other methods. Add your website: Once verified, add your website to Google Search Console by providing the URL of your site.

Identifying Common Crawl Errors

Google Search Console provides a comprehensive view of your website's performance in terms of crawl errors. Here are some of the common crawl errors you might encounter:

Server error: This could be due to a broken link, invalid file, or technical issue with your server. Soft 404: While not a true 404 error, a soft 404 can still lead to indexing issues. Access denied: If your web server doesn't allow Googlebot to access certain pages or directories. Not found (404 errors): Occurs when a URL is invalid or no longer exists on your website. Faulty redirect: Invalid or incorrectly configured redirects can cause crawling issues. DNS issue: This can be due to incorrect domain name server settings. Server connectivity issue: Network problems or DNS resolution issues that prevent Google from crawling your site. Robots.txt fetch issue: Errors in your robots.txt file that disallows Googlebot from accessing certain resources.

Tracking and Fixing Crawl Errors

Once you have identified the crawl errors in Google Search Console, it's important to take corrective actions. Here are some steps to follow:

Analyze the Errors: Review the specific types of errors and their frequency. Google Search Console provides detailed metrics and graphing tools to help you with this. Fix Server Errors: If you encounter server errors, ensure that your web server is functioning correctly and that all relevant files are accessible. Resolve 404 Errors: Use your website's analytics to find broken links and redirect them to a relevant, live page or a 404 error page. Correct Redirects: Ensure that all redirects are properly configured and functioning. This can often be done through .htaccess files or your website’s content management system (CMS). Fix Robots.txt Errors: Verify that your robots.txt file is correctly formatted and does not result in any crawl errors. Handle DNS Issues: Check with your domain registrar to ensure that your DNS settings are correct.

OLS Progress Through Time

To visualize the impact of your efforts, use the graph provided by Google Search Console. This graph will help you track the number of crawl errors over time. Here's an example:

As you can see in the above example, the number of crawl errors was initially around 50,000. With ongoing optimization and maintenance, these errors have been significantly reduced, and almost all of them have been resolved by the end of the period shown in the graph.

Conclusion

Managing crawl errors is a continuous process that requires regular monitoring and maintenance. By creating a profile in Google Search Console, identifying and fixing common crawl errors, and using the provided tools effectively, you can significantly improve your website's SEO. Regular checks and optimizations will not only enhance your website's visibility on search engines but also contribute to a better user experience.