Googlebot and a Cup of Coffee
by Frank Jovine on 08/30/2009 in Google
I was sitting at my computer early in the morning like I do everyday, but this day I had company. The Googlebot appeared, but not just one, but many. I was curious to see what content it was gobbling up, and than it stared me right in the face, it was an article I just published. I was very impressed on how fast the Googlebot appeared. I am guessing the Googlebot is a Starbucks fan.
If you own a forum such as VBulletin you can actually see when the Googlebot visits by going to the ‘What’s Going On’ page and clicking on the ‘Currently Active Users’. Once you are there and you have admin access, you can click on the Guest IP to see where the IP resolves to. The Googlebot IP reads like this – crawl-66-249-65-188.googlebot.com.
If you have a WordPress blog, you can also check when the Googlebot visits by downloading StatPress. This plugin collects information about visitors, spiders, search keywords, feeds, browsers etc. Download StatPress here.
Googlebot is the search bot software used by Google, which collects documents from the web to build a searchable index for the Google search engine.
Googlebot thank you for joining me for a cup of coffee!
BadEvan
Aug 30th, 2009
I love when the Googlebot comes to visit… I wish s/he would stay for coffee and tea cookies…
I have noticed a faster creeping of the GB from the time I hit publish. It used to be a couple of days. But now it’s just a couple of hours… sometimes even less.
Ps, I love StatPress. I started using it after BlogStats crashed and burned…
Klaus @ TechPatio
Aug 31st, 2009
I wonder how many system ressources StatPress might take on your blog/webserver, since it’s real time – any idea?
PS: Where’s your “subscribe to comments” plugin, so commentators can get an e-mail when there’s a reply or new comment?
.-= Klaus @ TechPatio´s last blog ..Facebook: World’s 4th Most Visited Website. Google: Brand Value $100 Billion =-.
Frank J
Aug 31st, 2009
Klaus,
StatPress will use some system resources like CPU on your server. I have used it, but I didn’t have any major issues with site latency.
A. Zuck
Aug 31st, 2009
Ahhhhh, the great mysteries of the Googlebot. Certainly I can’t begrudge its surreptitious crawl: it’s better to be indexed than not. However, I still haven’t decided in total if it’s visits are something to be praised or cursed.
.-= A. Zuck´s last blog ..Jason, Where Have You Been? =-.
christie
Aug 31st, 2009
That is so cool being able to see the Google Bot’s visit! It’s surely not as easy to scare away as the Easter Bunny or Santa. I will have to get Statpress – very interesting!
.-= christie´s last blog ..Google Wave Sandbox – I have a login! =-.
Michael Aulia
Sep 2nd, 2009
As long as the bots visit my blog, I’m happy enough not knowing when they are actually coming
.-= Michael Aulia´s last blog ..One wireless receiver to rule them all =-.
Frank J
Sep 2nd, 2009
Michael,
I love the bot. How are you doing sir?