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CASE STUDY · EXELIC GADGETS

How Exelic Gadgets found 43% of Googlebot’s visits going to scripts.

Exelic Gadgets sells phones, laptops and accessories online in Kenya. Ndovu showed where Google’s crawler was spending its visits, and one change on 13 November 2026 started to move it back to the store.

  • Electronics store · Kenya
  • WooCommerce
  • Data from 28 Oct to 14 Nov 2026
Googlebot requests by section30 days to 14 Nov 2026
APIs and AJAX
43%
Pages and posts
32%
Products
15%
Static files
5%
43%of Googlebot requests went to APIs and AJAX
33,553verified Googlebot requests in 30 days
40comparison pages with Google clicks restored
13 Novthe day the fix went live
The story

From a crawl report to a fix.

Five steps, with the numbers Ndovu showed at each one.

01 · The question

Where does Googlebot spend its visits?

Before adding more content, we wanted to know whether Google was crawling the products and pages people actually search for.

  • Server logs since 28 Oct 2026
  • Verified Googlebot only
  • Search Console connected
SourcesConnected in Ndovu
LiveCrawl AnalyticsServer logs, checked against Google’s crawler addresses
Search ConsoleClicks, impressions and sitemapsLive
DoneSite auditFull crawl on 11 Nov 2026
02 · What Ndovu showed

43% of Googlebot’s requests went to APIs and AJAX.

Most of it went to the store’s visit-counting script, /wp-json/ndovu-wa/v1/events. The same report found two smaller problems.

  • 33,553 verified Googlebot requests
  • 30 days to 14 Nov 2026
FindingsCrawl Analytics, site audit and Search Console
HighVisit-counting script43% of Googlebot’s requests went to APIs and AJAX
Lost40 comparison pagesRetired by a catalogue rebuild while they still had Google clicks
Error3 old sitemapsStill listed in Search Console, returning 404
03 · The decision

Keep the crawl on pages people search for.

The script is not a page anyone searches for, so every Googlebot request to it is a visit not spent on a product. Comparison pages with clicks have proven demand, so they should stay.

  • Block what is not a page
  • Keep pages with demand
PrioritiesWhat deserved attention first
P0Stop crawlers calling the scriptLargest share of Googlebot’s requests
P1Restore 40 comparison pagesPages with Google clicks
P2Remove dead sitemapsA clean signal in Search Console
04 · What changed

Four changes on 13 November 2026.

The script now skips known search and AI crawlers, robots.txt blocks it, the 40 comparison pages are back and the dead sitemaps are gone.

  • Plugin update
  • robots.txt rule
  • Search Console cleanup
Changes13 Nov 2026
DoneScript skips crawlersSearch and AI crawlers no longer trigger it
Donerobots.txt ruleDisallow: /wp-json/ndovu-wa/
Restored40 comparison pagesOn a keep list the next rebuild respects
Done3 sitemaps removedFrom Search Console
05 · Early results

Down to 38%, two days in.

In the 7 days to 14 November, 38% of Googlebot’s 7,348 verified requests went to sections usually kept out of search. Only two days after the change fall in that window, so this is an early reading, not a result. We will add the full month here.

  • Early reading
  • Full month to follow
Googlebot outside the store’s pagesCrawl Analytics
PeriodRequestsShare
30 days to 14 Nov33,55343%
7 days to 14 Nov7,34838%
Takeaways

What to take from it.

  1. 01

    Check where crawlers go

    Server logs show requests that Search Console never lists.

  2. 02

    Block what is not a page

    Scripts and APIs belong out of the crawl, so the visits go to products.

  3. 03

    Measure again later

    Two days is not a result. Compare full months before calling it.

Lawrence Kibe

Founder of Ndovu SEO Labs. SEO manager for ecommerce, obsessed with crawl data and Search Console. Nairobi, Kenya.

FAQ

About this case.

Is this a final result?

No. Only two days after the change fall in the 7-day window. We will add the full month.

Where do the numbers come from?

Ndovu Crawl Analytics, reading the store’s server logs since 28 October 2026 and checking every Googlebot request against Google’s published addresses, plus Search Console.

What is still open?

Product variations answer crawlers in 4.2 seconds on average. That is the next fix.

Exelic Gadgets

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