Theoretical crawling strategy using Morton ordering (Z-order curve) to optimize distributed crawling and storage.
I know the frustration when you publish amazing content, but search engines seem slow to find it, or they miss the most important parts. It feels like your website is playing hide-and-seek with Google, but we can make sure you always get found quickly. I want to share the secret sauce of how crawlers prioritize your pages and give you actionable tips to dramatically improve your website’s SEO visibility. We will look at a high-level concept to make sure your best pages are always indexed first.
So, what is Z-order Crawling (IR Concept)? The $\mathbf{Z-order}$ Crawling (IR Concept) is a fancy term for how an Information Retrieval (IR) system, like a search engine, decides the priority and order for visiting your web pages. It is essentially an efficient strategy to make sure the most valuable or likely-to-change pages get revisited by the bot more often. We can influence this order by sending the right signals to the search engine crawlers about which pages are most important.
Z-order Crawling and Your CMS Platform
While you cannot directly control a search engine’s internal $\mathbf{Z-order}$ algorithm, every Content Management System (CMS) lets you send strong priority signals. I focus on using built-in CMS tools and extensions to highlight what is most important on your site. The platform you choose mainly determines how easy it is to implement these priority signals, like setting an up-to-date sitemap.
WordPress
WordPress is excellent for managing Crawl priority because of plugins like Yoast SEO or Rank Math. I always use these plugins to manage my XML sitemap and tell the crawlers exactly which pages are high priority and which ones they can ignore. You can also use the $\texttt{noindex}$ tag on low-value pages to make sure the crawler spends more time on your key content.
Shopify
On Shopify, your main tools for crawl control are the automatically generated sitemap and the $\texttt{robots.txt}$ file. I recommend paying close attention to your product collection structure to ensure product pages are easy for the bot to find and categorize. You should frequently audit your products and collections to remove or hide any unnecessary, duplicate, or outdated pages.
Wix
Wix makes it simple to manage your sitemap and SEO settings directly through its platform dashboard. I focus on making sure every page has a clear, logical URL structure, which is a great signal of organization to crawlers. Use the built-in SEO panel to ensure important pages are included in the sitemap and are ready to be crawled.
Webflow
Webflow offers powerful control over sitemaps, indexing rules, and redirects, giving you great flexibility to manage crawl order. I use Webflow’s CMS Collections to categorize and structure content clearly, which helps the crawler easily understand my site’s hierarchy. This strong structure means the crawler gets a clear, prioritized path through my content.
Custom CMS
With a custom CMS, you have the opportunity to build a perfect sitemap that reflects your content’s true priority. I ensure that the sitemap automatically updates whenever a new piece of high-value content is published or an existing page is edited. This signals immediate importance to the search engine, encouraging a faster crawl.
Industry-Specific Z-order Crawling Strategies
The best way to influence the $\mathbf{Z-order}$ Crawling (IR Concept) depends on what information your business needs to be found for the most. We need to focus the crawler’s limited time on the pages that directly lead to sales or key business goals. I use specific strategies to prioritize the content that truly moves the needle for each industry.
Ecommerce
For ecommerce, my strategy is to prioritize the product pages that have the highest profit margins or that change price most often. I make sure these key product and category pages are listed first and updated most recently in the XML sitemap. You must also regularly remove out-of-stock product pages or use a $\texttt{noindex}$ tag on them to focus the crawler on available inventory.
Local Businesses
A local business must prioritize the homepage and the main location/contact page above all else. I ensure the Google Business Profile is fully linked and verified, and that the website’s main pages are always updated with correct opening hours and service details. This focuses the crawler on the most critical, immediate information a local customer needs.
SaaS (Software as a Service)
SaaS companies should prioritize product feature pages and the pricing page, as these are high-conversion areas. I regularly update the pricing page content, which signals fresh importance to the crawler. I also make sure the blog and knowledge base content that answers high-intent customer questions is well-linked from the main navigation.
Blogs and Publishers
As a blogger, I advise prioritizing your new articles or any existing articles that you have recently updated with fresh data. You should actively ping search engines when you publish new content, and always include your latest, high-value posts at the top of your sitemap. This encourages a faster crawl of your most timely and relevant work, which can lead to better rankings.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is Z-order Crawling (IR Concept)?
The $\mathbf{Z-order}$ Crawling (IR Concept) is a priority system used by search engines to decide the order in which they visit and update pages on your website. I think of it as a must-visit-first
list for the search bot, which helps them allocate their crawling budget efficiently.
How is crawl budget related to $\mathbf{Z-order}$ Crawling?
Crawl budget is the number of pages a search engine bot will visit on your site within a certain time frame, and $\mathbf{Z-order}$ helps the bot use that budget wisely. I always make sure the most important pages are prioritized in the crawl order so the crawl budget is not wasted on low-value pages.
What is the most actionable way to influence the crawl order?
The most actionable way is to maintain a perfect, up-to-date XML sitemap and submit it directly to Google Search Console or Bing Webmaster Tools. I regularly audit my sitemap to remove low-priority pages and ensure the last modified date is accurate for the pages I want to be re-crawled.
Should I $\texttt{noindex}$ my old or thin content?
Yes, I often recommend using the $\texttt{noindex}$ tag on very old, low-traffic pages that you do not plan to update, or on internal search result pages. This tells the search engine not to waste its crawl budget on these pages, which indirectly increases the crawl priority for your better, more important content.
