Some Sites Are Seeing Crawl Rate Declines In Google Search Console

08/28/25
Source: Search Engine Roundtable by barry@rustybrick.com (Barry Schwartz). Read the original article

TL;DR Summary of Google Crawl Rate Declines Affecting Large Sites Since August 2025

Several large websites experienced significant drops in Googlebot crawl rates starting around August 8, 2025, affecting platforms like Vercel, WP Engine, and Fastly. This issue was confirmed by Google’s John Mueller as a Google-side crawling problem now resolved, with no impact on rankings or traffic. The decline was not universal but notably affected some major sites, and Bing crawling appeared mostly unaffected. Platforms confirmed no internal issues, pointing to Google’s systems as the root cause.

Optimixed’s Overview: Understanding the August 2025 Googlebot Crawl Rate Drop and Its Impact on Major Platforms

Background of the Crawl Rate Decline

Starting around August 8, 2025, complaints surfaced from SEO professionals and site owners about a significant decrease in Googlebot crawl activity visible in Google Search Console’s crawl stats. While many sites remained unaffected, several large websites, particularly those hosted on platforms like Vercel, WP Engine, and Fastly, reported drastic crawl rate reductions, sometimes nearing zero.

Verification and Confirmation from Google

  • John Mueller of Google officially acknowledged the issue as stemming from Google’s systems, not external platforms.
  • The problem involved actual crawling reduction rather than just reporting discrepancies.
  • Google confirmed the situation was resolved by late August 2025 and crawl activity would return to normal automatically.

Impact and Platform Responses

Despite the crawl rate drop, there was no associated negative impact on website rankings or organic traffic. Platforms affected weighed in:

  • Vercel’s CTO Malte Ubl reported a global 30% reduction in Googlebot crawl rate with specific large sites affected severely.
  • Other platforms like WP Engine confirmed their services were operating normally.
  • Reports suggest Bing’s crawl activity was largely unaffected, indicating the issue was limited to Googlebot.

Community and Industry Reaction

SEO forums and social media channels, including Google Webmaster Help forums, Twitter (X), and LinkedIn, featured numerous discussions. These highlighted:

  • Concerns from webmasters and SEO experts about crawl stat anomalies.
  • Clarifications that the issue was not widespread but significant enough to warrant attention.
  • Ongoing monitoring to ensure crawl rates fully recovered post-resolution.

Summary

This crawl rate incident serves as a reminder of the complexities in Google’s crawling infrastructure affecting site indexing temporarily. While it caused understandable concern among affected site owners, the swift acknowledgment and resolution by Google prevented any lasting SEO damage. Webmasters relying on platforms like Vercel and WP Engine should stay informed on crawl activity trends but can be reassured that such issues are actively managed by Google.