The correct spelling of "web spider" is /wɛb ˈspaɪdər/. The first syllable is pronounced as in the word "web" (a site or a network of interconnected threads), and the second syllable is pronounced as in the word "spider" (an eight-legged arachnid known for spinning webs). A web spider is a computer program that crawls websites to index their content for search engines. Its job is to gather and organize data from the web, and it's an essential tool for anyone looking to make their site more discoverable online.
A web spider, also known as a web crawler or simply a crawler, is a program or automated script used by search engines to systematically browse and index web pages in order to provide relevant search results to users.
These spiders start their journey at a specific webpage, usually known as the "seed URL," and proceed by following hyperlinks present on the page. As they navigate through different web pages, they collect and analyze various information such as page titles, content, metadata, and links to other pages.
The main purpose of a web spider is to gather data and build an index of web pages, allowing search engines to effectively and efficiently deliver search results to users. By crawling and indexing vast amounts of information on the internet, spiders enable search engines to provide highly relevant and accurate search results in response to user queries.
Web spiders typically operate on a large scale, traversing thousands or even millions of web pages during each crawl, and accomplish this by utilizing advanced algorithms that prioritize pages, restrict the crawl to specific domains, and respect website rules through a file called "robots.txt."
While web spiders are primarily used by search engines, they serve other purposes as well. They can be employed by website owners to analyze their site's structure, detect broken links, or perform web scraping activities to extract specific data for various applications like market research, data mining, or content aggregation.
The word "web" can be traced back to the Old English word "wǣb", which referred to a woven fabric or net. It has roots in the Proto-Germanic word "wabją". "Spider", on the other hand, comes from the Old English word "spīthra", which originated from the Proto-Germanic word "spīdrǭ". The term "web spider" combines these two words to describe a spider that creates intricate webs to catch prey.