Web crawling

Definition of web crawling

Web crawling is the automated process of extracting information from websites using bots or spiders, systematically traversing web pages for indexing or data collection.

More about web crawling

Search engines use web crawling to index and rank web pages, while businesses may use it for data extraction or monitoring competitors. Search engine crawlers systematically visit web pages to index and update search engine databases. This automated process involves following links from one page to another and gathering information about content, keywords, and site structure. Beyond search engines, web crawling supports market research, sentiment analysis, and price monitoring activities. Effective crawling requires respecting website rules set in robots.txt files to avoid overloading servers or accessing restricted areas. Advances in crawling technology help handle dynamic and multimedia content, ensuring up-to-date and comprehensive data collection for various digital applications.

Strategies for web crawling

Respect robots.txt files, optimize website structure for crawlers, and monitor crawl errors to ensure proper indexing.

Related terms

• Search engine indexing
• Web scraping
• Bots