Hubspot Guide to Web Crawlers and SEO Basics

Understanding how search engines discover your site is essential, and Hubspot offers a clear way to think about web crawlers so you can improve visibility and rankings.

This guide translates the core lessons from the original Hubspot explanation of web crawlers into a practical, step‑by‑step resource you can apply to your own website.

What Is a Web Crawler in Hubspot Terms?

A web crawler is an automated program, sometimes called a spider or bot, that systematically browses the internet to find and index pages for search engines.

In the simplified model used by Hubspot, a crawler:

Finds URLs from known lists, sitemaps, and links on existing pages.
Requests the HTML of each page it discovers.
Follows links in that HTML to discover more pages.
Sends what it finds back to the search engine index for processing.

This process never really ends; crawlers are constantly revisiting pages, discovering new content, and updating the index so search results stay current.

How Web Crawlers Work Behind the Scenes

While each search engine implements its own technologies, the high‑level process that Hubspot emphasizes can be summarized as follows.

1. Starting From Seed URLs

Crawlers begin with a list of seed URLs. These could be:

Well‑known, high‑authority websites.
Previously discovered pages already in the index.
URLs submitted via tools, sitemaps, or other channels.

The crawler requests these pages and parses their HTML.

2. Discovering New Links

On each page, the crawler scans for hyperlinks to other URLs. From the Hubspot perspective, this link graph is what allows search engines to move from one site to millions of interconnected pages across the web.

Every new URL that meets the crawler’s rules is added to a queue for future crawling. Over time, this generates a massive map of the web.

3. Respecting Robots.txt and Crawl Rules

Before a crawler explores a site, it usually checks the robots.txt file on that domain. This file tells crawlers which parts of the site they can or cannot access.

Typical directives include:

Disallow: Paths or folders that should not be crawled.
Allow: Exceptions within disallowed paths.
Crawl-delay: How often the crawler should request pages.

As highlighted by the Hubspot explanation, this is an important control point for site owners who want to manage crawl budgets and protect sensitive or low‑value sections from being crawled.

4. Sending Data to the Index

Once a crawler retrieves a page, it sends the content to the search engine’s indexing system. The indexer then:

Extracts text, images, and structured data.
Understands page topics, entities, and relationships.
Stores signals like links, metadata, and performance data.

Only after this process can a page appear in search results for relevant queries.

Why Web Crawlers Matter for Your SEO Strategy

The Hubspot approach makes it clear that if crawlers cannot access, understand, or efficiently navigate your site, your SEO performance will suffer.

There are three high‑impact areas you can control:

Discoverability: Making sure crawlers can find all important pages.
Crawl efficiency: Helping crawlers prioritize the right content.
Indexability: Ensuring the pages that support your business can be stored and shown in search results.

Hubspot Style Best Practices for Crawlability

Drawing from the principles used in the Hubspot article, you can follow these best practices to make your site easy for crawlers to navigate.

1. Optimize Your Site Structure

A clear, logical structure helps both users and crawlers. Aim for:

A small number of top‑level categories.
Descriptive, human‑readable URLs.
Consistent internal linking between related pages.

The fewer clicks it takes to get from your homepage to any critical page, the better.

2. Use Internal Links Strategically

Web crawlers follow links to discover content, so internal linking is essential. The Hubspot guidance implies a few simple rules:

Link to important pages from your navigation and from popular articles.
Use descriptive anchor text that matches user intent.
Avoid orphan pages that have no links pointing to them.

A strong internal link structure tells crawlers which pages are most important.

3. Manage Robots.txt With Care

Using robots directives incorrectly can block key pages from being crawled. Make sure you:

Do not disallow core product, service, or content pages.
Block only low‑value or duplicate sections (for example, certain parameter URLs).
Test changes before applying them to your whole site.

Always confirm that your most important URLs are accessible to crawlers.

4. Create and Maintain an XML Sitemap

An XML sitemap is a file listing key URLs you want crawlers to discover quickly. In line with Hubspot style recommendations, your sitemap should:

Include only canonical, index‑worthy URLs.
Be kept up to date as you add or remove content.
Be submitted to major search engines via their webmaster tools.

While a sitemap does not guarantee indexing, it dramatically improves discoverability, particularly for deep pages.

Hubspot Insights on Content and Technical Signals

The way your pages are built and written also affects how web crawlers and search engines evaluate them.

Content Quality and Relevance

Crawlers collect text and media, but search engines rank pages based on value to users. Following the spirit of Hubspot guidance, aim for:

Clear, user‑focused answers to specific questions.
Original insights instead of copied or thin content.
Logical headings and short paragraphs for readability.

This makes it easier for indexing systems to understand your main topics and match them to queries.

Technical Performance and Accessibility

From a crawler’s point of view, a technically sound page is faster to process and easier to index. Pay attention to:

Page speed and Core Web Vitals.
Mobile responsiveness and clean HTML.
Proper use of status codes (200 for success, 301 for redirects, 404 for missing pages).

Efficient pages reduce crawl strain and improve user experience at the same time.

Practical Steps to Apply Hubspot Web Crawler Concepts

To put these ideas into action on your own site, follow this simple checklist inspired by the Hubspot explanation of crawling.

Audit your site structure. Map your main pages and check how many clicks away they are from the homepage.
Review internal links. Add links from high‑traffic pages to key commercial or educational pages.
Check robots.txt. Ensure you are not accidentally blocking important folders or URLs.
Generate an XML sitemap. Include your top pages and submit it to search engines.
Fix broken links. Replace or redirect 404 pages so crawlers do not hit dead ends.
Improve content clarity. Use clear headings, short paragraphs, and descriptive titles.

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