{"id":2867,"date":"2008-02-16T20:02:03","date_gmt":"2008-02-16T14:32:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/"},"modified":"2026-10-13T13:36:18","modified_gmt":"2026-10-13T08:06:18","slug":"slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/","title":{"rendered":"How to Slow Down Googlebot Crawling (Without Hurting SEO) 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Is Googlebot crawling slowing down or crashing your server? It happened to us in 2007: on shared hosting at DreamHost, Googlebot&#8217;s heavy crawling kept overloading the server, and the host blocked it and asked us to fix the problem or upgrade. Back then Google Webmaster Tools had a &#8220;Set crawl rate&#8221; option, and setting it to Slow for 90 days calmed things down without hurting our traffic. That tool is gone now. Here&#8217;s how to manage <strong>Googlebot crawl rate<\/strong> in 2026.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-64248\" src=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate-1024x538.webp\" alt=\"How to slow down Googlebot crawl rate\" width=\"1024\" height=\"538\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate-1024x538.webp 1024w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate-300x158.webp 300w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate-150x79.webp 150w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate-768x403.webp 768w, https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-content\/uploads\/slow-googlebot-crawl-rate.webp 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p><strong>Quick answer:<\/strong> Google retired the crawl rate limiter in Search Console in January 2024; Googlebot now slows down automatically when your server responds slowly or returns errors. For an emergency, return HTTP 503 or 429 to Googlebot for a short time (hours or a day or two, not longer). For lasting fixes, speed up and cache your site, block bad bots and fake &#8220;Googlebots&#8221;, fix crawl traps like endless filter URLs, and check the Crawl stats report in Search Console.<\/p>\n<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_88 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6acf8d2a1cdd4\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"ez-toc-cssicon\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #1a202c;color:#1a202c\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6acf8d2a1cdd4\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#How_Google_decides_how_fast_to_crawl\" >How Google decides how fast to crawl<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-2\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#How_to_reduce_Googlebot_crawling\" >How to reduce Googlebot crawling<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-3\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#1_Emergency_return_503_or_429\" >1. Emergency: return 503 or 429<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-4\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#2_Make_the_site_faster_and_cache_it\" >2. Make the site faster and cache it<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-5\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#3_Fix_crawl_traps\" >3. Fix crawl traps<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-6\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#4_Block_fake_Googlebots_and_bad_bots\" >4. Block fake Googlebots and bad bots<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-7\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#5_Check_Crawl_stats\" >5. Check Crawl stats<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-8\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#6_Last_resort_ask_Google\" >6. Last resort: ask Google<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-9\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#What_not_to_do\" >What not to do<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-10\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#Our_experience\" >Our experience<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-11\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#FAQ\" >FAQ<\/a><ul class='ez-toc-list-level-3' ><li class='ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-12\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#Can_I_still_set_Googlebots_crawl_rate_in_Search_Console\" >Can I still set Googlebot&#8217;s crawl rate in Search Console?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-13\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#Does_slowing_Googlebot_hurt_rankings\" >Does slowing Googlebot hurt rankings?<\/a><\/li><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-3'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-14\" href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2008\/02\/slow-googleblot-crawling-stop-crashing-shared-hosting-servers\/#Why_is_Googlebot_crawling_my_site_so_much\" >Why is Googlebot crawling my site so much?<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_Google_decides_how_fast_to_crawl\"><\/span>How Google decides how fast to crawl<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Google sets a &#8220;crawl capacity limit&#8221; for each site based on how quickly and reliably it responds. If pages load fast, Googlebot crawls more; if the server slows down or returns 5xx errors, it backs off on its own. It also crawls more for sites it considers popular and fresh.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"How_to_reduce_Googlebot_crawling\"><\/span>How to reduce Googlebot crawling<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"1_Emergency_return_503_or_429\"><\/span>1. Emergency: return 503 or 429<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If Googlebot is overloading the server right now, serve a <strong>503 Service Unavailable<\/strong> or <strong>429 Too Many Requests<\/strong> status to its requests for a short period. Google reduces crawling quickly. Don&#8217;t keep this up for more than a day or two, or pages may start dropping from the index.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"2_Make_the_site_faster_and_cache_it\"><\/span>2. Make the site faster and cache it<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Page caching, a CDN and enough server resources let Googlebot crawl without strain. See how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/03\/make-wordpress-faster-safer\/\">make WordPress faster and safer<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"3_Fix_crawl_traps\"><\/span>3. Fix crawl traps<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Calendars, faceted filters, session IDs and endless parameter URLs can create millions of near-duplicate pages. Block them in <code>robots.txt<\/code> or remove the links, and use canonical tags.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"4_Block_fake_Googlebots_and_bad_bots\"><\/span>4. Block fake Googlebots and bad bots<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Many bots pretend to be Googlebot. Verify real Googlebot by reverse DNS (it resolves to googlebot.com or google.com), and block impostors and aggressive scrapers with your firewall or Cloudflare&#8217;s bot protection.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"5_Check_Crawl_stats\"><\/span>5. Check Crawl stats<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>In <a href=\"https:\/\/search.google.com\/search-console\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Search Console<\/a>, open <strong>Settings &gt; Crawl stats<\/strong> to see requests per day, response times and status codes by file type and Googlebot type.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"6_Last_resort_ask_Google\"><\/span>6. Last resort: ask Google<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If crawling is still a serious problem after these fixes, Google offers a form to report excessive Googlebot crawling.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"What_not_to_do\"><\/span>What not to do<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t block Googlebot in robots.txt or .htaccess<\/strong> to save load, as our host once did for us. It stops indexing and can wipe out search traffic.<\/li>\n<li><strong>Don&#8217;t use crawl-delay for Google:<\/strong> Googlebot ignores the <code>Crawl-delay<\/code> rule (Bing respects it).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Our_experience\"><\/span>Our experience<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>After we slowed Googlebot in 2007, crawl stats became steady instead of spiky, the host was happy, and traffic actually grew as we kept publishing. A few months later, Google even offered a faster crawl rate. The lesson still applies: stable, fast servers get crawled well. Today QuickOnlineTips runs on LiteSpeed hosting with caching, and Googlebot isn&#8217;t a problem.<\/p>\n<p>Want Google to crawl a new post sooner instead? Here&#8217;s how to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/2010\/02\/get-your-blog-indexed-by-google\/\">get your blog indexed by Google<\/a>.<\/p>\n<h2><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"FAQ\"><\/span>FAQ<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Can_I_still_set_Googlebots_crawl_rate_in_Search_Console\"><\/span>Can I still set Googlebot&#8217;s crawl rate in Search Console?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No. The crawl rate limiter tool was removed in January 2024.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Does_slowing_Googlebot_hurt_rankings\"><\/span>Does slowing Googlebot hurt rankings?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>A short slowdown doesn&#8217;t. Long-term errors or blocking can reduce how many pages are indexed.<\/p>\n<h3><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Why_is_Googlebot_crawling_my_site_so_much\"><\/span>Why is Googlebot crawling my site so much?<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Often because of many new or changed URLs, crawl traps, or fake bots using Googlebot&#8217;s name.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Is Googlebot crawling slowing down or crashing your server? It happened to us in 2007: on shared hosting at DreamHost,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":64248,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"_kad_post_classname":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[6,25,3,41],"tags":[49],"class_list":["post-2867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-blogging","category-domain-hosting","category-google","category-search-engine-optimization","tag-tutorials"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2867"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":65267,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2867\/revisions\/65267"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64248"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.quickonlinetips.com\/archives\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}