diff --git a/pkg/scrape/scrape_rate_limiter.go b/pkg/scrape/scrape_rate_limiter.go
index 4991e271b..35f92a532 100644
--- a/pkg/scrape/scrape_rate_limiter.go
+++ b/pkg/scrape/scrape_rate_limiter.go
@@ -67,7 +67,9 @@ func WaitBeforeVisit(rateLimiter string, visitFunc func(string) error, pageURL s
 func ScraperRateLimiterCheckErrors(domain string, err error) {
 	if err != nil {
 		limiter := GetRateLimiter(domain)
-		limiter.lastRequest = time.Time{}
+		if limiter != nil {
+			limiter.lastRequest = time.Time{}
+		}
 	}
 }