Gary Illyes from Google warns that a sudden increase in crawling can indicate both positive and negative developments. While it might signal positive changes, it can also point to potential issues. Two common problems associated with sharp increases in crawling are:
Infinite Spaces
If your site includes elements like a calendar or infinitely filterable product listings, crawlers may become overly enthusiastic about these infinite spaces. This can lead to excessive crawling. To manage this, utilize robots.txt to exclude such content.
Hacked Content
If your server's file system or content management system is compromised, malicious actors might flood your site with unwanted content. Crawlers may then start indexing these new pages. For guidance on handling such situations, visit web.dev/hacked.
Treat unexpected increases in crawling as a potential issue until proven otherwise.
