How to Fix Crawl Errors in Google Search Console (Step-by-Step)

If your website has trouble appearing in Google search results, crawl errors could be the cause. These errors prevent Googlebot from indexing your site properly, which can hurt your rankings. This guide will help you identify and fix crawl errors in Google Search Console using a simple, step-by-step approach.

What Are Crawl Errors?

Crawl errors happen when Googlebot tries to visit a page on your site but fails. These errors are reported in Google Search Console and can include issues like broken links, server errors, or blocked pages. There are two main types:

Site Errors: These errors affect your entire website, such as DNS resolution failures or server connectivity problems. If Googlebot cannot access your site at all, it will not be able to crawl any of your pages.

URL Errors: These refer to specific pages that Googlebot was unable to access. Common examples include 404 not found, soft 404s, and access denied errors. These may affect only a few pages but can still impact your overall SEO if they involve high-value content.

Understanding and resolving these errors is key to improving your website’s visibility.

Why Fixing Crawl Errors Matters

When Googlebot can’t access your content, it can’t index it. If your site isn’t indexed, it won’t appear in search results. Fixing crawl errors ensures:

Better visibility in search results: When your pages are crawlable and indexable, they can be ranked and discovered by users.

More efficient use of your crawl budget: Google allocates a limited crawl capacity to each site. Wasting this budget on inaccessible or low-value pages can limit the visibility of more important content.

Higher rankings due to improved indexing: Search engines prefer well-maintained websites. By removing barriers to crawling and indexing, you increase your chances of ranking higher.

Ignoring crawl errors can lead to missed opportunities, lower traffic, and a drop in SEO performance.

Step 1: Open Google Search Console

Start by logging into Google Search Console. Choose the property (website) you want to inspect. Navigate to the “Pages” section under the “Indexing” tab. This report shows valid, excluded, and error URLs.

Click on each error type to view the affected URLs. You’ll likely see issues such as 404 errors, soft 404s, server errors (5xx), and URLs blocked by your robots.txt file. Google provides descriptions of each error to help you understand what is wrong and how to address it.

Step 2: Prioritize Errors That Affect Traffic

Not all crawl errors are equally important. Focus on fixing those that block your most critical pages from being indexed. These often include:

1. Homepage and key landing pages: Errors here can severely impact your traffic and brand visibility.
2. Product, service, or category pages: If you run an ecommerce site or offer services, these are essential for conversions.
3. High-performing blog posts or articles: Pages that previously drove a lot of traffic should be fixed to maintain their ranking.

Use analytics data to identify which URLs bring in the most visits and revenue. Prioritizing fixes here ensures you preserve your site’s SEO value.

Step 3: Fix Common Crawl Errors

404 Errors (Page Not Found)

A 404 error means that Googlebot tried to visit a page that no longer exists. This often happens if a URL was deleted or mistyped. To resolve it:

1. Restore the page if it was deleted unintentionally or is still relevant.
2. Redirect the URL to a similar, relevant page using a 301 permanent redirect if the original content is no longer available.
3. Remove internal links pointing to the broken URL to avoid sending users and bots to dead ends.

Server Errors (5xx)

Server errors happen when the server cannot respond to Googlebot’s request. This could be due to server overload, misconfiguration, or faulty code.

1. Check your server logs to identify what caused the error at the time of the crawl.
2. Contact your hosting provider if the issue is related to downtime, CPU limits, or server mismanagement.
3. Optimize plugins and scripts that may be slowing down server response, especially during peak traffic hours.

Blocked by robots.txt

Sometimes, your robots.txt file may unintentionally block Googlebot from accessing important pages.

1. Review the robots.txt file located at yoursite.com/robots.txt.
2. Remove or adjust disallow rules that are preventing access to pages you want indexed.
3. Test your changes using the robots.txt Tester in Search Console to ensure the page is now accessible.

Redirect Errors

Redirect errors occur when a URL is redirected incorrectly, either through infinite loops or by pointing to broken destinations.

1. Check the redirection chain using tools like Screaming Frog or HTTP Status Checker.
2. Simplify redirect paths by reducing unnecessary hops and ensuring the final URL is live and relevant.
3. Use 301 redirects, not 302 (temporary) redirects, unless the redirect is meant to be temporary.
   

Step 4: Monitor Index Coverage

Once you’ve fixed the crawl errors, it’s important to keep track of how Google is indexing your pages. Go back to the “Pages” report in Search Console to review which URLs are now marked as valid and which still have issues.

Use the URL Inspection Tool to test each fixed page. If everything looks good, click “Request Indexing” to prompt Google to recrawl the page. Monitoring your index coverage regularly ensures you spot new issues before they affect your site.

Use Log File Analysis to Find Crawl Issues

Log files record all server activity, including visits from search engine bots. Analyzing these files provides deep insights into crawl behavior.

1. Track which URLs are crawled most frequently: This helps you understand what content Google considers most important.
2. Identify URLs with repeated errors: If Googlebot consistently fails to crawl certain URLs, you can prioritize fixing them.
3. Spot crawl waste: Determine if your crawl budget is being used on unnecessary pages, like duplicate content or internal search results.

Tools like Screaming Frog Log File Analyzer or Botify make this process easier and more visual.

Step 6: Optimize Your Crawl Budget

Your crawl budget determines how many pages Googlebot will crawl on your site during a given time. Large websites or sites with many dynamic pages often face crawl budget issues.

1. Reduce duplicate pages: Use canonical tags and avoid URL parameters that generate endless versions of the same content.
2. Block non-essential pages: Prevent Google from accessing low-value areas (e.g., admin panels, internal search) using robots.txt or noindex tags.
3. Update content regularly: Pages that change frequently get crawled more often. Keep key content fresh to signal relevance.
4. Fix redirect chains and errors: Clean up unnecessary redirects and reduce error pages to ensure smooth crawling.

Efficient use of your crawl budget means important pages get seen and indexed faster.

Step 7: Keep Your Sitemap Updated

A sitemap tells search engines which pages to crawl and index. An outdated sitemap may include broken URLs or omit new pages.

1. Generate a fresh XML sitemap using tools like Screaming Frog or Yoast SEO.
2. Include only live, canonical URLs to avoid submitting pages that no longer exist or that redirect.
3. Submit your updated sitemap in Google Search Console under the Sitemaps section.

A well-maintained sitemap improves crawl efficiency and helps Google understand your site structure.

Step 8: Audit Internal Links

Internal linking plays a major role in how Google navigates your website. It distributes crawl equity and helps bots discover pages.

1. Use descriptive anchor text so search engines understand what the linked page is about.
2. Avoid broken internal links, which lead to dead ends and waste crawl budget.
3. Create a logical link hierarchy, making sure important pages are linked from menus, footers, and relevant content.

Internal links not only help SEO but also enhance user experience by guiding visitors through your content.

Step 9: Avoid Duplicate and Thin Content

Google wants to index pages that provide value. Duplicate and thin content can clutter your index and weaken overall site authority.

1. Use canonical tags to point search engines to the preferred version of a page.
2. Consolidate similar pages into one stronger, more comprehensive page when possible.
3. Expand thin pages with original, helpful content that answers user questions.

By focusing on quality and uniqueness, you help Google prioritize your best content.

Step 10: Perform Regular Site Audits

Websites change constantly. Every content update, new plugin, or design refresh can introduce crawl errors.

1. Schedule monthly SEO audits to stay ahead of problems.
2. Use multiple tools like Search Console, Screaming Frog, and Ahrefs to cross-check your crawl health.
3. Test staging environments before going live to prevent errors from affecting your indexed content.

Routine maintenance ensures your site stays error-free and optimized for both users and search engines.

How DOES Infotech Helps You Fix Crawl Errors

At DOES Infotech, we specialize in resolving crawl errors, improving crawl budget, and conducting log file analysis. Our SEO experts monitor your site, resolve technical issues, and maintain search visibility.

We provide complete support—from setting up Google Search Console to analyzing logs, fixing errors, and building SEO strategies that work long-term. Whether it’s a small website or a large ecommerce platform, our solutions are tailored to meet your needs.