Google will crawl some websites over HTTP/2 from November 2020, says Google
- SEO |
A new article on Search Engine Journal reports that Google just confirmed it will begin crawling websites over HTTP/2 in November.
The improved architecture of HTTP/2 means it can provide additional features when compared with HTTP. According to Google:
The change to the way Googlebot crawls won't happen all at once, though. It's expected to happen gradually in phases, and November's first phase will involve the bot crawling only a few sites in HTTP/2. The bot will base decisions on how to crawl specific sites on the following basis:
Site servers that don't support HTTP/2 will still get crawled, Google says
If you're a website owner and keen to get started with HTTP/2, it's just a case of waiting. Googlebot won't start crawling every site out there over HTTP/2 overnight, and you don't need to do anything right now. You also won't get penalized if your site server doesn't yet support HTTP/2.
It's thought this change is happening now because Googlebot's HTTP/2 software finally allows it to happen when site servers permit. Google says that there's no need to take action if your website servers don't support HTTP/2. There won't be any push by Google to persuade site owners to move from HTTP1.1 either. In fact, in some cases, even if servers support HTTP/2 and won't gain a benefit from Googlebot crawling it that way, the site will get crawled using HTTP1.1 anyway.
The improved architecture of HTTP/2 means it can provide additional features when compared with HTTP. According to Google:
| "With h2, Googlebot is able to open a single TCP connection to the server and efficiently transfer multiple files over it in parallel, instead of requiring multiple connections. The fewer connections open, the fewer resources the server and Googlebot have to spend on crawling." |
- Does the site's server support HTTP/2?
- Does Googlebot crawl the specific website often?
Site servers that don't support HTTP/2 will still get crawled, Google says
If you're a website owner and keen to get started with HTTP/2, it's just a case of waiting. Googlebot won't start crawling every site out there over HTTP/2 overnight, and you don't need to do anything right now. You also won't get penalized if your site server doesn't yet support HTTP/2.
It's thought this change is happening now because Googlebot's HTTP/2 software finally allows it to happen when site servers permit. Google says that there's no need to take action if your website servers don't support HTTP/2. There won't be any push by Google to persuade site owners to move from HTTP1.1 either. In fact, in some cases, even if servers support HTTP/2 and won't gain a benefit from Googlebot crawling it that way, the site will get crawled using HTTP1.1 anyway.
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