Google Details Timing for Crawling, Indexing, and Site Moves

Google’s Gary Illyes provided new insights into the timing of key search processes during the Search Central Live Deep Dive Europe event in Barcelona. The data, shared in a recap by John Campbell of ROAST, outlines the fastest, typical, and slowest times for activities like crawling, indexing, and site moves.

The typical time for Google to discover a new URL is about 20 hours, while refreshing a known URL takes around 30 days. Indexing end-to-end usually completes in 1.5 hours, but can stretch to months or never happen if quality issues arise. Site moves, title changes, and snippet updates also vary widely in duration, with site moves sometimes taking up to a year.

Illyes emphasized that these processes are interconnected, meaning delays in one stage can impact subsequent stages. For instance, a page must be crawled before it can be indexed. The recap notes that small site moves can be completed in a few weeks, while larger sites require more time. Additionally, pages may remain in a duplicate cluster for up to two weeks following content fixes.

The recap also highlighted the variability in recovery times after core updates, with typical recovery taking 3-6 months and slower cases extending to a year. Illyes’ warnings and the provided ranges offer valuable benchmarks for SEO teams managing client expectations regarding technical adjustments and system delays.