Can Googlebot crawl using the HTTP/2 protocol?
Posted: Sun Feb 16, 2025 5:27 am
Summary
In November 2015, John Mueller said he expected Googlebot to crawl websites by sending HTTP/2 requests in early 2016. We don't know why, as of October 2017, this hasn't happened.
What we do know is that Googlebot does not support HTTP/2. It still crawls by sending HTTP/1.1 requests. Both this experiment and the " Rendering on Google Search " page confirm this. (If you want to ecuador number data more about the technology behind Googlebot, you should check out what they've shared recently .)
For now, it looks like we'll have to accept the status quo. We've recommended that Robert (and your readers too) enable HTTP/2 on their websites for better performance, but continue to optimize for HTTP/ 1.1. Your visitors will take notice and thank you.
I was recently challenged with a question from a client, Robert, who runs a small PR firm and needs to improve the client's website. His question inspired me to run a small experiment in the HTTP protocol. So what was Robert's question? He asked...
You may be asking yourself, why should I care about Robert and his HTTP protocol?
As a refresher, the HTTP protocol is the core set of standards that allow the World Wide Web to exchange information. It is what allows a web browser to display data stored on another server. First introduced in 1989, this means that, like everything else, the HTTP protocol is getting old. HTTP/2 is one of the latest versions of the HTTP protocol that is designed to replace these aging versions.
So, back to our question: why would you, as an SEO, bother to learn more about HTTP protocols? The short answer is that none of your SEO efforts matter or can be done without a basic understanding of the HTTP protocol. Robert knew that if his site wasn’t indexing correctly, his client would lose valuable web traffic from searches.
In November 2015, John Mueller said he expected Googlebot to crawl websites by sending HTTP/2 requests in early 2016. We don't know why, as of October 2017, this hasn't happened.
What we do know is that Googlebot does not support HTTP/2. It still crawls by sending HTTP/1.1 requests. Both this experiment and the " Rendering on Google Search " page confirm this. (If you want to ecuador number data more about the technology behind Googlebot, you should check out what they've shared recently .)
For now, it looks like we'll have to accept the status quo. We've recommended that Robert (and your readers too) enable HTTP/2 on their websites for better performance, but continue to optimize for HTTP/ 1.1. Your visitors will take notice and thank you.
I was recently challenged with a question from a client, Robert, who runs a small PR firm and needs to improve the client's website. His question inspired me to run a small experiment in the HTTP protocol. So what was Robert's question? He asked...
You may be asking yourself, why should I care about Robert and his HTTP protocol?
As a refresher, the HTTP protocol is the core set of standards that allow the World Wide Web to exchange information. It is what allows a web browser to display data stored on another server. First introduced in 1989, this means that, like everything else, the HTTP protocol is getting old. HTTP/2 is one of the latest versions of the HTTP protocol that is designed to replace these aging versions.
So, back to our question: why would you, as an SEO, bother to learn more about HTTP protocols? The short answer is that none of your SEO efforts matter or can be done without a basic understanding of the HTTP protocol. Robert knew that if his site wasn’t indexing correctly, his client would lose valuable web traffic from searches.