Why Crawl Errors Matter for Your Website
If Google cannot crawl your pages, it cannot index them. If it cannot index them, your pages will never appear in search results. That is why fixing crawl errors in Google Search Console should be a priority for every website owner.
Crawl errors signal that Googlebot tried to access a URL on your site and failed. Left unresolved, these errors can hurt your rankings, waste your crawl budget, and create a poor experience for visitors who land on broken pages.
In this guide, we will walk you through every type of crawl error you might encounter, show you exactly where to find them in Google Search Console, and give you clear, actionable steps to fix each one. No advanced technical knowledge required.
What Are Crawl Errors in Google Search Console?
Crawl errors occur when Googlebot attempts to reach a page on your website but cannot load it successfully. Google Search Console reports these errors so you can identify and resolve them before they impact your search visibility.
There are two broad categories:
- Site-level errors – Problems that prevent Google from accessing your entire website (DNS errors, server connectivity issues, robots.txt fetch failures).
- URL-level errors – Problems affecting specific pages (404 not found, soft 404s, redirect errors, server errors on individual URLs).
Google Search Console surfaces these issues primarily through the Pages report (formerly known as the Index Coverage report) and the Crawl Stats report. Understanding both is key to keeping your site healthy.
Step 1: Access and Review Crawl Errors in Google Search Console
Before you can fix anything, you need to know exactly what is broken. Here is how to find your crawl errors:
- Log in to Google Search Console.
- Select the property (website) you want to review.
- In the left sidebar, click Indexing and then Pages.
- Look at the section labeled “Why pages aren’t indexed”. This is where Google lists specific error types and the number of affected URLs.
- Click on any error type to see the list of affected URLs.
Additionally, go to Settings > Crawl Stats to see a broader picture of how Googlebot is crawling your site, including response codes and host availability.
Pro tip: Export the list of affected URLs for each error type. Having them in a spreadsheet makes it much easier to track your progress as you fix them.
Step 2: Fix 404 (Not Found) Errors
404 errors are the most common crawl errors. They occur when Googlebot requests a URL that does not exist on your server.
Common Causes of 404 Errors
- A page was deleted without setting up a redirect.
- A URL was changed (new slug or permalink structure) without a redirect from the old URL.
- External sites or internal pages link to a URL with a typo.
- A product or article was removed from the site.
How to Fix Them
- Determine if the page should still exist. If it was deleted intentionally and has no replacement, a 404 or 410 (Gone) response is actually the correct behavior. Google will eventually drop it from the index.
- If the content moved to a new URL, set up a 301 redirect from the old URL to the new one. This passes link equity and sends visitors to the right place.
- If the page was removed but a closely related page exists, redirect the old URL to that related page using a 301 redirect.
- Fix internal links. Search your site for any links pointing to the broken URL and update them to the correct destination.
- Contact external sites (if practical). If high-authority sites link to a broken URL, consider reaching out and asking them to update the link.
How to Set Up a 301 Redirect
The method depends on your platform:
| Platform | Method |
|---|---|
| WordPress | Use a plugin like Redirection or Yoast SEO Premium |
| Apache Server | Add a rule in your .htaccess file |
| Nginx Server | Add a rewrite rule in your server configuration |
| Shopify / Wix / Squarespace | Use the built-in URL redirect feature in settings |
Step 3: Fix Soft 404 Errors
A soft 404 happens when a page returns a 200 OK HTTP status code but the content of the page looks like an error page to Google. In other words, the server says “everything is fine” but the page is essentially empty or displays a “page not found” message.
How to Fix Them
- If the page truly does not exist, make your server return a proper 404 or 410 HTTP status code instead of 200.
- If the page exists but has thin content, add meaningful, unique content to the page so Google no longer considers it empty.
- Check your CMS settings. Some content management systems serve custom 404 pages with a 200 status code. Verify that your custom error page actually sends the correct 404 header.
Step 4: Fix Server Errors (5xx)
Server errors (HTTP 500, 502, 503, etc.) mean that Googlebot reached your server, but the server failed to deliver the page. These are serious because they can affect your entire site if they happen frequently.
Common Causes
- Your server is overloaded or running out of resources.
- A misconfigured server-side script or plugin is crashing.
- Your hosting provider is experiencing downtime.
- Database connection failures.
- Timeout errors due to slow page generation.
How to Fix Them
- Check your server logs. Look at the error logs on your hosting account or server. The logs will tell you exactly which script or process is failing and why.
- Test the affected URLs yourself. Try loading them in a browser. If they work for you, the error may be intermittent. Use the URL Inspection tool in Google Search Console to see exactly what Googlebot encountered.
- Review recent changes. Did you recently update a plugin, theme, or server configuration? Roll back changes if errors started after an update.
- Upgrade your hosting if needed. If traffic spikes cause 503 errors, your server may not have enough resources. Consider upgrading to a more powerful hosting plan or adding caching (e.g., Cloudflare, server-side caching).
- Contact your hosting provider. If you cannot pinpoint the issue, your hosting provider’s support team can often help identify server-side problems.
Step 5: Fix Redirect Errors
Redirect errors occur when Googlebot follows a redirect but something goes wrong in the process. These include redirect loops, redirect chains that are too long, and redirects pointing to bad URLs.
Types of Redirect Errors
| Error Type | What It Means | How to Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Redirect loop | URL A redirects to URL B, and URL B redirects back to URL A | Identify the loop and remove one of the redirects, or point both to a single final destination |
| Too many redirects (redirect chain) | URL A redirects to B, B to C, C to D, etc. | Update the redirect so URL A goes directly to the final destination |
| Redirect to invalid URL | The redirect target does not exist or is malformed | Correct the redirect destination to a valid, live URL |
Best Practices for Redirects
- Always use 301 redirects for permanent URL changes (not 302, which signals a temporary move).
- Keep redirect chains to a maximum of one hop: old URL directly to final URL.
- After setting up redirects, test them using a tool like httpstatus.io or the curl command in your terminal.
- Regularly audit your redirects, especially after site migrations or redesigns.
Step 6: Fix DNS and Connectivity Errors
DNS errors mean Google could not resolve your domain name, and connectivity errors mean Google could not connect to your server at all. These are site-level issues that can completely block crawling.
How to Fix Them
- Check your domain registration. Make sure your domain has not expired and that your DNS records are correctly configured with your registrar.
- Verify your nameservers. Confirm that your domain’s nameservers point to the correct hosting provider.
- Test DNS resolution. Use tools like DNS Checker to see if your domain resolves correctly from different locations around the world.
- Check if Googlebot is blocked. Make sure your firewall, CDN, or security plugin is not blocking Google’s crawler IP addresses. You can verify Googlebot using Google’s official documentation.
- Monitor server uptime. Use a free uptime monitoring tool (like UptimeRobot) to be alerted immediately when your server goes down.
Step 7: Fix Robots.txt Errors
If Google cannot fetch your robots.txt file, it may temporarily stop crawling your site entirely. Google treats an unreachable robots.txt as a potential block because it cannot determine which pages it is allowed to crawl.
How to Fix Them
- Make sure your robots.txt file is accessible at
https://yourdomain.com/robots.txt. - Verify it returns an HTTP 200 status code.
- Check that the file does not accidentally block important pages or directories with overly broad
Disallowrules. - Use the robots.txt Tester in Google Search Console (under Settings) to validate your file.
Step 8: Optimize Your XML Sitemap
Your XML sitemap is essentially a roadmap for Googlebot. Keeping it clean helps Google crawl your site more efficiently and reduces errors.
- Only include canonical, indexable URLs. Do not list URLs that return 404, are redirected, or have a
noindextag. - Update your sitemap automatically. Most CMS platforms (WordPress, Shopify, etc.) generate and update sitemaps automatically. Make sure this feature is enabled.
- Submit your sitemap in Google Search Console. Go to Indexing > Sitemaps and submit your sitemap URL if you have not already.
- Check for sitemap errors. Google Search Console will flag issues like URLs in your sitemap that return errors. Fix these promptly.
Step 9: Improve Internal Linking
Google uses internal links to discover and crawl pages on your site. Pages with poor internal linking may not get crawled frequently, or at all.
- Make sure every important page on your site is linked from at least one other indexed page.
- Use descriptive anchor text that tells both users and Google what the linked page is about.
- Avoid orphan pages (pages that have no internal links pointing to them).
- Consider adding a related posts or related products section to improve internal link coverage.
Step 10: Validate Your Fixes in Google Search Console
After you have fixed the errors, you need to let Google know so it can re-crawl the affected URLs.
- Go to the Pages report in Google Search Console.
- Click on the specific error type you fixed.
- Click the “Validate Fix” button.
- Google will begin re-crawling the affected URLs and will notify you of the validation results.
You can also use the URL Inspection tool to request indexing for individual URLs if you need faster results.
Important: Validation can take several days to a few weeks. Be patient and monitor the progress in the report.
How to Prevent Future Crawl Errors
Fixing existing errors is only half the battle. Preventing new ones from appearing is equally important. Here is a checklist to keep your site error-free:
- Set up a redirect strategy before deleting or moving content. Always redirect old URLs to new ones before making changes live.
- Audit your site regularly. Use tools like Screaming Frog, Sitebulb, or Ahrefs Site Audit to catch broken links, redirect chains, and server errors early.
- Monitor Google Search Console weekly. Make it a habit to check the Pages report and Crawl Stats report at least once a week.
- Keep your CMS, plugins, and server software updated. Outdated software is a common cause of unexpected server errors.
- Test after every major change. Whether it is a redesign, migration, or plugin update, always verify that pages load correctly and redirects work afterward.
- Use a staging environment. Test changes on a staging site before deploying to production.
Quick Reference: Crawl Error Types and Fixes
| Error Type | Common Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| 404 Not Found | Deleted or moved page | 301 redirect or restore the page |
| Soft 404 | Empty page returning 200 status | Return proper 404 status or add real content |
| Server Error (5xx) | Server overload, bad scripts | Check server logs, upgrade hosting, fix code |
| Redirect Error | Loops, chains, bad targets | Simplify redirects to single hops |
| DNS Error | Expired domain, wrong nameservers | Verify domain registration and DNS settings |
| Robots.txt Error | File unreachable or misconfigured | Ensure file is accessible and correctly formatted |
Frequently Asked Questions
How long does it take for Google to re-crawl fixed pages?
After you validate a fix in Google Search Console, Google typically re-crawls the affected URLs within a few days to two weeks. High-authority sites may see faster re-crawling. You can speed things up by using the URL Inspection tool to request indexing for critical pages.
Are 404 errors always bad for SEO?
Not necessarily. If a page was intentionally deleted and has no replacement, a 404 response is the correct behavior. Google will eventually remove it from the index. However, if the page had backlinks or significant traffic, you should redirect it to a relevant alternative page to preserve link equity.
What is the difference between a 404 and a soft 404?
A standard 404 returns an HTTP 404 status code, clearly telling search engines the page does not exist. A soft 404 returns an HTTP 200 (OK) status code, but the content on the page appears empty or looks like an error page. Google flags soft 404s because the mixed signals confuse the crawling and indexing process.
Can crawl errors affect my rankings?
Individual 404 errors on low-value pages usually will not affect your overall rankings. However, widespread server errors (5xx), DNS issues, or a large number of crawl errors can signal to Google that your site is unreliable, which may negatively impact rankings across your site.
Do I need to fix every single crawl error?
Focus on errors that affect important pages first, especially pages that receive traffic, have backlinks, or are listed in your sitemap. You do not need to panic over a handful of 404 errors on pages that were intentionally removed and have no SEO value.
How often should I check Google Search Console for crawl errors?
We recommend checking at least once a week. If you are running a large site or have recently made significant changes (migration, redesign, new CMS), check daily until things stabilize.
Can caching services like Cloudflare cause crawl errors?
Yes. Misconfigured CDN or caching services can sometimes block Googlebot or serve incorrect responses. Make sure your CDN is configured to allow Google’s crawler IPs and that cached pages return the correct HTTP status codes.
Final Thoughts
Fixing crawl errors in Google Search Console is not a one-time task. It is an ongoing part of maintaining a healthy, search-friendly website. The good news is that the process is straightforward: identify the errors, understand the cause, apply the fix, and validate it.
By following the steps in this guide, you can resolve the most common crawl errors, protect your search rankings, and ensure that Google can access and index every page that matters on your site.
Need help diagnosing complex crawl issues or planning a site migration? Contact the team at coding4.net. We are happy to help you keep your site in top shape for search engines.