Crawl Map
Definition
A crawl map is a visual representation of a website’s architecture that shows how search engine crawlers traverse the pages on a site. Crawl maps display website pages as nodes or dots, with the links between pages shown as connecting lines or edges.
Crawl Map Relevance For SEO
Crawl maps can be very useful for SEO in a few key ways:
- Identifying complex site architectures and helping to simplify them
- Spotting duplicate content issues
- Finding pagination chains that may be creating thin content
- Understanding the distribution of internal link equity
- Pinpointing areas of low crawl coverage that search bots may be missing
Overall, crawl maps provide a unique visualization of site architecture and crawler behavior that can uncover SEO issues.
Crawl Map Best Practices for SEO
- Use Professional Tools: Use a specialized SEO crawler tool to generate the most accurate crawl data
- Maintain a logical hierarchical structure: Always place the most important pages at the top levels of your website navigation. Each subsequent level should logically break down from the one above it, ensuring a smooth user and bot navigation experience.
- Limit the number of clicks: Keep all pages within 3-4 clicks from the homepage if possible. This ensures that all pages are easily accessible to both users and search engine bots, contributing to improved SEO.
- XML Sitemaps: Always maintain up-to-date XML sitemaps for crawler consumption. This assists bots in efficiently navigating through your website.
- Internal Linking: Use internal linking wisely to guide users and search engine bots through related content across your site.
- Avoid Orphan Pages: Make sure every page can be reached through at least one link from another page. Pages not linked anywhere (orphaned) are generally ignored by search engines and can hurt SEO.
Following crawl map best practices helps SEOs diagnose technical SEO issues and optimize site architecture.