Google’s New 2MB Crawl Limit: What It Means for Your Service Pages and eCommerce Site

On February 3, 2026, Google quietly updated its Googlebot documentation with a significant change: the crawl limit for HTML files dropped from 15MB to 2MB. While most sites won’t hit this threshold, service-based businesses and eCommerce stores need to pay attention—especially if you’re running heavy page templates, extensive product catalogs, or dynamic filtering systems.

What Actually Changed

The update clarifies something that was already happening behind the scenes. Google’s John Mueller confirmed that Googlebot will only index the first 2MB of HTML content for web search, though it can still fetch up to 15MB of a file. Think of it like this:

• Fetch limit: 15MB (what Google downloads)
• Index limit: 2MB (what Google actually reads and ranks)
• PDF limit: Still 64MB (unchanged)

Anything beyond 2MB of HTML gets ignored for indexing purposes. Not cached, not crawled for ranking signals—just dropped.

Should You Panic?

Probably not. According to HTTP Archive data, the median mobile homepage weighs about 22KB of HTML—0.022MB. To hit Google’s new limit, your page would need to be roughly 90 times larger than the average website.

But here’s where service businesses and eCommerce stores get into trouble:

Service Pages That Blow Up HTML

• Location pages with embedded reviews – 500+ reviews with full text
• Service area pages – Lists of 50+ cities with descriptions
• FAQ sections – 100+ questions with schema markup
• Case studies – Embedded testimonials, before/afters, detailed project descriptions

eCommerce Pages That Hit the Limit

• Category pages with 200+ products loaded at once
• Infinite scroll implementations that render all products in the DOM
• Product pages with 100+ customer reviews (full text, not just ratings)
• Comparison pages loading dozens of SKUs simultaneously
• Mega-menu navigation with thousands of category links in the HTML

How to Check If You’re Affected

Quick audit:

# Check your HTML size (Linux/Mac)
curl -s "https://yoursite.com/page" | wc -c

# Or use Chrome DevTools:
# Network tab → Reload page → Look at the HTML document size

If you’re seeing numbers over 1.5MB, it’s time to optimize. Here’s what to do.

Fixes for Service Pages

1. Lazy-Load Reviews

Don’t render 500 reviews in the initial HTML. Load the first 5-10, then use JavaScript to fetch more on demand.

Before: 500 reviews = ~800KB HTML
After: 10 reviews + lazy load = ~50KB HTML

2. Paginate FAQs

Break your 100-question FAQ into topic sections with their own URLs. Better UX and lighter pages.

Before: /faq/ with 100 questions = 600KB
After: /faq/pricing/, /faq/technical/, etc. = 100KB each

3. Accordion Collapsed by Default

Use <details> and <summary> tags (semantic HTML) or JavaScript accordions so Google sees the content but it doesn’t all render in the initial payload.

4. Offload Service Area Pages

Instead of one page listing 200 cities:

• Create individual city pages (better for local SEO anyway)
• Use a /locations/ hub page with just the city names and links
• Each city page gets its own optimized content

Fixes for eCommerce Sites

1. Product Listing Pages: Default to Pagination

Infinite scroll is great for UX but terrible for HTML bloat. Google prefers paginated listings anyway—it’s easier to crawl.

Implementation:

• Default: Show 24-48 products per page
• Offer “Load More” as an optional enhancement
• Use rel="next" and rel="prev" for pagination signals

2. Trim Product Grid HTML

Each product card doesn’t need:

• Full descriptions (save for the product page)
• Schema markup (add it on the product page, not the category page)
• Every single variant (link to the product page)

Lean product card:

• Image
• Title
• Price
• Quick “Add to Cart” button

That’s it. Save the rest for the product page.

3. Reviews: Summary First, Details Later

Show review count and average rating in the initial HTML. Load full review text with JavaScript after the page loads.

Implementation:

<!-- Initial HTML (light) -->
<div class="reviews-summary">
  <span>4.8/5 stars (342 reviews)</span>
  <button id="load-reviews">Read Reviews</button>
</div>

<!-- Reviews load via JS after click -->

4. Simplify Mega-Menus

Your navigation doesn’t need 2,000 category links in the header HTML. Use:

• A streamlined top-level menu in the header
• JavaScript to fetch deeper categories on hover/click
• An XML sitemap for category indexing (Google doesn’t need them all in your nav)

5. Split Comparison Pages

Don’t load 50 products side-by-side in one HTML payload. Offer:

• A comparison builder where users add 2-5 products
• Load comparison data dynamically
• Or create smaller comparison sets (e.g., “Top 5 Laptops Under $1000”)

The Real Issue: Technical Debt

Most sites hitting the 2MB limit aren’t doing it intentionally. It’s accumulated technical debt:

• Reviews plugin rendering everything server-side
• Theme templates loading every possible product variant
• Third-party widgets injecting bloated HTML
• Old SEO advice to “put everything on the page for Google”

Modern SEO reality: Google doesn’t need everything in the initial HTML. It can execute JavaScript, it understands lazy-loading, and it prefers clean, fast-loading pages.

What This Means for Rankings

If you’re currently over 2MB:

• Google is ignoring content beyond that limit
• You might be missing internal links, schema markup, or conversion elements that are too far down the page
• Your “important” content could be getting truncated

If you optimize and drop below 2MB:

• Google indexes your full page
• Faster load times = better Core Web Vitals
• Better UX = lower bounce rates = ranking boost

Action Plan

Week 1: Audit

1. Check your top 20 landing pages (service pages, category pages, product pages)
2. Measure HTML size using browser DevTools or curl
3. Identify pages over 1.5MB

Week 2: Optimize

1. Lazy-load reviews, FAQs, testimonials
2. Paginate long lists (products, locations, articles)
3. Trim product card HTML
4. Simplify navigation

Week 3: Monitor

1. Re-check page sizes
2. Monitor rankings for affected pages (use Google Search Console)
3. Check Core Web Vitals (lighter HTML = faster TTI)

The Bottom Line

Google’s 2MB limit isn’t a crisis—it’s a forcing function. It’s pushing us toward what we should’ve been doing all along: building fast, clean, user-focused pages instead of bloated SEO monsters.

Service businesses: Stop cramming 200 FAQs onto one page.
eCommerce stores: Stop rendering 500 products in the initial HTML.

Lean pages rank better, load faster, and convert harder. Google just gave you a reason to finally do the work.

Want help auditing your site for the 2MB limit? Run a technical SEO audit or reach out—I’ve helped dozens of service businesses and eCommerce stores trim the fat without losing rankings.