Google’s crawl team recently took the unusual step of filing bug reports directly against WordPress plugins that are causing widespread crawl inefficiencies. This move is part of a broader effort to improve how Googlebot traverses the web, but it also underscores an ongoing challenge that affects site performance, SEO visibility, and crawl budgets — especially for content-heavy and e-commerce sites built on WordPress.
In this article, we’ll unpack the issue, explain why Google took action, and offer insights on how finance and banking websites — as well as other organizations with WordPress sites — can avoid similar problems and ensure efficient crawling and indexing.
Why Google Is Filing Bugs Against Plugins
Google analysts, including Gary Illyes, recently discussed on the Search Off the Record podcast how the company’s crawl team has been identifying WordPress plugins that generate excessive, low-value URLs that waste Googlebot’s crawl resources.
These issues often stem from plugins that append “action parameters” to URLs — such as ?add_to_cart=true — which create an explosion of seemingly unique URLs that Googlebot tries to crawl. Parameters like these are common in ecommerce plugins (e.g., WooCommerce), but when left unchecked they create large crawable pools of near-duplicate URLs that generate unnecessary server requests and dilute the crawl budget.
According to Illyes, this type of parameter behavior accounted for about 25% of all crawl issues reported by Google’s team in 2025, second only to faceted navigation issues (about 50%). Together, these two categories represented roughly three-quarters of crawl waste flagged last year.
Case in Point: WooCommerce Responds Quickly
One notable success story involved WooCommerce, the leading ecommerce plugin for WordPress. After Google filed a bug report indicating that add-to-cart URL parameters were generating significant crawl waste, WooCommerce’s developers moved quickly to address the issue.
Customer-facing plugins that automatically generate unique URLs for each user interaction (such as adding products to a cart) can inadvertently create thousands of crawlable variations of essentially the same content. When Googlebot encounters these at scale, it invests time and resources in crawling URLs that don’t meaningfully contribute to search results.
Why Crawl Waste Matters for SEO
Googlebot’s crawl budget is the amount of crawling resources allocated to a site within a given timeframe. Efficient use of that budget means the bot spends more time crawling meaningful, indexable content and less on redundant URLs. For finance, banking, or high-traffic corporate sites, inefficient crawling can have real consequences:
1. Slower Content Discovery
When bots are occupied with action parameters or infinite URL patterns, important pages may not be crawled as frequently. This delay can slow the discovery of new content or updates.
2. SEO Value Dilution
Duplicate or near-duplicate URLs can confuse indexing systems and diminish the relative importance of canonical pages. Even with proper canonicalization, excessive duplicates can still harm crawling efficiency.
3. Server Strain and Performance Issues
Repeated bot requests to countless variations of the same page can consume server resources, leading to slower page performance — something that search engines and users both penalize indirectly.
Plugins and Crawl Waste: What’s Actually Happening
The core insight from Google’s team is that crawl waste frequently originates at the plugin layer, not necessarily from deliberate choices by site owners. Many popular plugins — especially ecommerce or interactive add-on features — generate URL parameters that seem unique to bots but don’t represent distinct, indexable content.
Examples include:
- Add-to-cart or wishlist action parameters
- Infinite calendar or event parameter generations
- Faceted navigation without proper canonical or noindex rules
Sites using such plugins may unknowingly expose hundreds or thousands of variant URLs that Googlebot tries to crawl, each consuming valuable crawl budget.
Why Some Plugin Developers Aren’t Responding
While WooCommerce responded quickly to Google’s bug report with a fix, not all developers have been as prompt. Some plugin authors have not yet claimed or addressed pending issues, leaving sites vulnerable to ongoing crawl problems.
Illyes noted one case involving a commercial calendar plugin that generated infinite URL paths, and Google’s outreach to the developer has not elicited a response. In such cases, site owners are left to manage the fallout themselves.
How Site Owners Can Manage Crawl Waste
Even if plugin developers are unresponsive, site owners and SEO teams can take proactive steps to manage how Googlebot interacts with parameters and avoid unnecessary crawling:
1. Review Plugins for URL Parameters
Identify plugins that create dynamic URLs with query parameters. E-commerce plugins, event calendars, and form extensions are common culprits. Evaluate whether these parameters produce indexable content or simply represent states (like “added to cart”) that shouldn’t be crawled.
2. Use robots.txt to Block Unnecessary Parameters
Google recommends explicitly blocking parameter URLs with robots.txt directives when possible. This prevents Googlebot from spending time crawling URLs that don’t provide unique content value.
Example:
User-agent: *
Disallow: /*?add_to_cart=
This directive stops bots from crawling URLs that include the add_to_cart parameter.
3. Apply Canonical Tags
Where parameterized URLs still need to be accessible, use canonical tags to point to the primary version of the content. This helps signal to search engines which version should be indexed, and can reduce indexing of low-value duplicates.
4. Audit Crawl Reports Regularly
Tools like Google Search Console’s Crawl Stats and third-party crawlers can help identify spikes in bot activity related to certain URL patterns. Regular audits allow SEO teams to spot issues before they significantly impact crawl budgets.
5. Consider Pagination and Faceted Navigation Best Practices
Faceted navigation — where users filter content (such as product lists) — is another major source of crawl waste. Google has documentation and guidelines to help sites design faceted navigation that does not overwhelm crawlers with bruteforce URL combinations.
Effective strategies include:
- Pruning non-valuable URLs
- Using noindex for filter results without a unique value
- Implementing proper canonicalization
Faceted navigation issues comprised about 50% of all crawl problems reported in Google’s internal data.
Implications for Finance and Banking Websites
Although e-commerce and plugin-driven URL waste often make headlines, the underlying lesson applies to finance and banking sites as well:
Content Access and Crawl Efficiency
Large sites that publish financial reports, tools, calculators, interest rate tables, or interactive content may inadvertently expose crawl-inefficient URLs via plugins or custom scripts. Regular audits can identify similar waste.
Structured Data and Indexing
Many banking sites use custom plugins to display rate tables, loan calculators, or compliance information. Ensuring that these features aren’t generating parameter-based duplicate paths is critical to avoid bots crawling duplicative or non-valuable URLs.
Site Performance and SEO Value
Crawl waste can correlate with slower site responsiveness (due to server load) and, over time, affect SEO health indirectly through delayed content updates. Keeping plugin-generated URL spaces under control makes SEO performance more predictable and efficient.
FAQs: Crawl Waste and WordPress Plugins
Q1. What is crawl waste?
Crawl waste occurs when Googlebot spends significant crawling resources on URLs that don’t provide unique value for indexing or search results. Common sources are parameter-driven URLs and faceted navigation.
Q2. How do plugins generate crawl waste?
Some plugins append action parameters or create infinite URL patterns that appear unique to crawlers but don’t represent distinct content worth indexing.
Q3. Why did Google file bugs against plugins?
Google’s crawl team filed bugs to alert developers directly when plugin behavior was creating widespread crawl inefficiencies, as in the case of WooCommerce’s add-to-cart parameters.
Q4. What can site owners do if developers don’t fix issues?
Site owners can use robots.txt rules, canonical tags, crawl audit tools, and careful plugin evaluation to mitigate crawl waste when developers are unresponsive.
Q5. Does crawl waste hurt SEO?
Indirectly, yes. Crawl waste can slow down the discovery of important pages and consume crawl resources on low-value URLs, making indexing and updates less efficient.
Final Thoughts: Crawl Hygiene Isn’t Optional
Google’s decision to file bugs against WordPress plugins highlights a core truth about modern SEO: crawl hygiene matters. Crawl budget doesn’t just affect colossal news sites or ecommerce platforms — it affects any website with complex URL patterns or dynamic content structures, including those in finance and banking.
By understanding how plugins generate crawlable URLs and taking proactive steps to manage them, site owners can ensure that Googlebot spends its time on content that matters — content that informs users, supports financial decisions, and strengthens a site’s visibility in search results.
If you’d like a tailored audit checklist for identifying and fixing plugin-related crawl issues specifically on financial services sites, I can prepare one.
