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Search engines like Google and Bing use crawlers (bots) to discover, read, and store information about web pages. This process is called crawling. After crawling, the data is analyzed and added to the search engine’s database a process known as indexing.
Without proper crawling and indexing, your site simply won’t appear in search results, no matter how good your content is.
What Is Crawling?
Crawling is when search engine bots visit your site to find pages and read their content.
Key tools to monitor crawling:
- Google Search Console (Crawl stats, Coverage report)
- Screaming Frog SEO Spider
- Site:yourdomain.com search query
What Is Indexing?
Indexing happens after crawling — search engines decide whether your page is worth showing in search results. If a page is indexed, it’s stored in Google’s database.
How to Improve Crawling & Indexing
- Submit an XML Sitemap in Google Search Console
- Use Internal Linking to connect your pages
- Fix Crawl Errors (404, blocked resources)
- Avoid Duplicate Content
- Use Robots.txt Correctly
