# How long does it take Google to recognize a change to a web site?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 4, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439 "2006-01-04T19:10:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439/1 "2006-01-04T19:10:11Z")

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Subject line says (almost) all. If a searchable term is removed from a web page, how long would it be before Google is no longer able to find the page if that search term is used?

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**Author:** ![bup](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/6bbea6/32.png) [@bup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bup)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439/2 "2006-01-04T19:12:42Z")

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They ‘spider’ every 3 days, approximately.

However, if people are linked to the page, using a given word, even if the search term no longer appears on the page, google will still find it.

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**Author:** ![Engywook](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bc8723/32.png) [@Engywook](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Engywook)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 9:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439/3 "2006-01-04T21:40:44Z")

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Thanks, **Bup**!

Mods, this is asked and answered - feel free to close.

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**Author:** ![mrklutz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ebca7d/32.png) [@mrklutz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrklutz)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439/4 "2006-01-04T22:13:48Z")

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The “images” search updates considerably less frequently – I’ve found through experimentation that the images can lag several weeks behind the 3-day spider.

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**Author:** ![alterego](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@alterego](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/alterego)\
**Post date:** [January 4, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-long-does-it-take-google-to-recognize-a-change-to-a-web-site/338439/5 "2006-01-04T22:41:47Z")

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> [@Engywook](#):
>
> Mods, this is asked and answered - feel free to close.

Not really. Googlebot’s frequency of visits to a given website is moreso determined by the frequency with which the site updates their content. BoingBoing is likely visited more than once per day while a site which hasn’t been updated in years is likely updated once per week. The most frequently updated blog i’ve maintained receive one visit per day.