What is Web Crawlers?
They are software bots that automatically browse pages on the internet and record data.
Overview
They form the foundation of search engines. By following links on a page, they jump to other pages and index everything they see, creating a massive database. They can be thought of as digital travelers mapping the internet.
How it works
They start with a specific initial list. They read the text, images, and links on the page and process them into their own database, then continue to move toward the new links they find.
Where it is used
They are used in search engine indexing, data collection projects, and price comparison sites.
Commonly confused with
They can be confused with web scraping; a crawler traverses the entire network, while a scraper extracts data from a specific page.
Frequently asked questions
Can they visit every site?
Site owners can determine which parts bots can or cannot visit using a 'robots.txt' file.
Related terms
This explanation was written in plain language for TreScout and machine-translated from the Turkish original · the Turkish version prevails. If something looks wrong or missing, write to hello@trescout.com. Read in Turkish →