Log File Analysis: Trace Googlebot to find hidden SEO opportunities.

The real problem in life: "SEO is almost dead ... but why does Google don't love?"

For the Webmaster or the advanced SEO team, have you ever felt this way? You dedicated the time and budget to do SEO, both on-page, off-page, complete content. But in the end ... the rankings were still calm. Or worse than that is The new content that has just been released is not being hit by Index as if shouting in a room that no one heard. You start asking questions, "Googlebot comes to our website? And if coming in ... where did it go to? Why can't it find an important page that we intend to do? "The feeling of work hard but not clearly see the results. It is both frustrating and the most encouraging.

Prompt for illustrations: Webmaster images sitting in front of the computer screen filled with graphs and SEO data, but the face looks confused and tired.

Why did that problem occur: "Crawl Budget" that is invisible

This problem is not caused by you not good or not. Try. But due to the fact that we can't see the "behavior" of Googlebot, we all know that Google has something called "Crawl Budget" or the quota to collect data on each website. Which is limited in each day. The problem is that the large website has tens of thousands and hundreds of thousands. There are often "black holes" that smoke the Crawl Budget.

• Internal Search Results
• In front of the faced navigation that creates millions of URL
• Duplicate Content
• Old faces that have no one but have not redirect

When googlebot spends most of the time with these pages There is almost no quota for collecting important information. That we just updated or created again, making all our SEO strategy like "Rowing in the basin" because Google has never seen those improvements.

Prompt for illustrations: simple infographic images. Googlebot runs into the "Black Hole" with the sign "useless Pages" instead of running to "Important Content".

If left, how will it affect: a quiet disaster.

Letting the Crawl Budget leak indefinitely, not like allowing the water to leak out of the hole tank. The consequences were more serious than expected. And it will bite your SEO slowly:

• Indexation delay: The new page or the updated page will be kept into the Google database much slower. Causing disadvantages to the competition that moves faster
• Ranking dropped: When Google didn't see the update It will see that your website is "old" and not fresh. The reliability in the eyes of Google will be reduced directly to the rankings.
• Lost business opportunities: New product pages, promotions or important articles Does not appear on the search results That means losing traffic and sales that should be received.
• The server works unnecessarily: being crushed by hundreds of thousands of responsibilities. Page each day It is a tremendous waste of server resources. Which may lead to problems Slow download website and Pagespeed problems in the long run.

Prompt for illustrations: SEO rank graph that gradually plummeted with a slow watter icon. And the money that flew is missing To convey the opportunity

Is there any solution? And where should it start: "Log file analysis" is the answer.

The only way to stop this disaster is "turn on the light" to see what Googlebot is doing on our website. The most powerful tool in doing this is "Log file analysis" or the analysis of the server's recording file.

Log file is a record of all activities that occur on the server. Including the entry of "User-Agent" called "Googlebot". This file analysis will allow us to see all the truth:

• How often does Googlebot come to our website? (Crawl frequency)
• What type of time it takes with the most? (Crawl Budget Allocation)
• Does it find an error page (404) or the server problem (5xx)?
• Is there an important duty that Googlebot has never entered? (Discovery Issues)
• Which page is the "Pop Pula" duties in the eyes of Googlebot?

Starting Log File Analysis is not as difficult as you think. The first step is to request a log file from your hosting service provider. Then use a special analysis tool like Screaming Frog: SEO LOG FILE Analyser, which is popular among pro. Or study additional guidelines from reliable sources such as Moz: Log file analysis to understand the principles deeply.

Prompt for illustrations: The magnifying glasses are looking at the long text log file and the GoogleBot icon appears to see the "trace" clearly.

Examples from the real thing that used to be successful: revive the e-commerce website with information from Log file.

In order to see more clearly Think of the case of a large e-commerce website with hundreds of thousands of products. They encountered a problem that the new collection is not ranked on Google at all, despite doing all SEOs according to the texts. The team decided to do Log File Analysis and what was found was very shocking.

Problems discovered: 70% of the Crawl Budget is used with the crawl of the product filter (such as /Dresses? Color = Blue & Size = M&RICE = 1000-2000), which creates almost endless URL. And these pages are already set up as `NOINDEX`, as if Googlebot lost a lot of benefits

Method: The team has edited the file `Robots.txt` to order" Disalow "from allowing Googlebot to interfere with the url that has all the parameters and improve the structure of the architecture (Information Architecture) of the website.

Results: Just 1 month after that, Log File shows that Googlebot began to focus on the main pages and pages of new products. More significantly As a result, the new collection of the collection began to appear on the first page of Google and organic sales increased by 40% in the next quarter. This is the power of making decisions using "data", not "feeling".

Prompt for illustrations: The Before & After Graphic image shows the Crawl Budget Allocation before editing (70% is Waste) and after the amendment (80% is Important Pages) with an arrow pointing to the higher sales graph.

If wanting to follow, what to do? (Can be used immediately): Action Plan, Googlebot traces

Ready to be a SEO detective? This is a step that you can follow immediately.

1. Request a log file from the host: Contact your hosting service provider to request Access Logs or Server Logs, specify the time you want. (Recommended at least 7-30 days)
2. Choose and install tools: Download and install the Screaming Frog Seo Log File Analyser program or other tools that you are good at.
3. Import and setting: Open the program and import the log file. The system may confirm the Googlebot's User-Agent to filter the data precisely.
4. In -depth data analysis:
   • URLS: See which url is the most frequently crawl? Is it an important duty?
   • Response Codes: Is there a 404 or 5xx page that Googlebot found a lot? Hurry and fix now!
   • Directories: Which folder (such as /Blog /, /Products /) that Googlebot gives importance? Is it consistent with your business goals?
   • ORPHAN URLS: Looking for URL that appears in the log file, but does not appear in the normal website (via Screaming Frog or Site: Search) or not in the sitemap. These pages are "epidermis" that has links in. But you may have forgotten
5. Create Action Plan: From all data To plan to edit, such as the use of `Robots.TXT` to block the face, not important, making 301 Redirect for the page 404, or the Internal Link to navigate Googlebot to your duty. Which is an important part of Strategy to rank on Google

Prompt for illustrations: Checklist images with "Action Plan" with icons in each item such as icons, files, tools, graphics icons, and rocket -rocket icons.

Questions that people tend to wonder And the answers that are cleared

Q1: How often do we do Log File Analysis?
A: For large websites that are frequently change Should be done monthly to follow up and find new problems But for general websites, doing every quarter (3 months) is enough to make you see the overall picture and not fall.

Q2: If using shared hosting, then he doesn't let Log file do?
A: This is an important limitation of some shared hosting. If that's the case It may be time to consider upgrade the hosting as a VPS or Dedicated Server that gives full access to files. Or if not ready Data analysis from the Google Search Console (Crawl Stats) is enough to provide some information. But not as detailed as the log file

Q3: What is the difference between log file with the Google Search Console?
A: Google Search Console (GSC) provides "summary" information that Google "wants us to see" which is very useful, but the log file analysis is the "raw" that "actually occurs". It gives a complete and no filter. Allowing us to see the problem that GSC may not report, such as crawl behavior from other bots or the frequency of accessing the CSS/JS file, which affects the web display.

Q4: What type of website analysis is suitable for?
A: Ideal for large and complex websites such as e-commerce, news websites, or websites that have a lot of content, including the IR website that accuracy and freshness of data is very important. But even a small website Understanding Googlebot's behavior is always an advantage.

Prompt for illustrations: Image icon With a question mark And there is a brighter lamp Conveying the solution

Summary to be easy to understand + want to try to do

Log file analysis is to change your status from "SEO people according to belief" to "SEO architects, the creators of the actual data." It is a random stop. Then turn to look at the truth that is happening on your server directly. Understand that Googlebot see and give importance to what on our website. Is the heart of the improvement of Crawl Budget to be the most effective And is an important key to unlock the rankings that have stopped for a long time

Do not let all your efforts be wasted with the Googlebot not to see the diamonds in your hands. It's time to turn on the flashlight into the shadow. And control the direction of Googlebot travel by yourself Try to apply the techniques and procedures that I gave today. And you will find that another SEO opportunity is hiding in the information you have never been interested in.

If you feel that these processes are too complicated Or need experts to help fully rehabilitate SEO. Our team is always ready to give advice to find the best solution for you.

Prompt for illustrations: A picture of a detective who discovered the hidden treasure chest behind the server log wall, conveying the discovery of hidden opportunities.

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