web crawler: meaning, definition, pronunciation and examples
B2-C1Technical, Business, Academic
Quick answer
What does “web crawler” mean?
A program that systematically browses the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose of indexing webpages for a search engine.
Audio
Pronunciation
Definition
Meaning and Definition
A program that systematically browses the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose of indexing webpages for a search engine.
An automated software agent, often called a 'bot' or 'spider', that traverses the internet by following hyperlinks from page to page, gathering data or performing automated tasks.
Dialectal Variation
British vs American Usage
Differences
No significant lexical differences. Both regions use 'web crawler' predominantly. 'Spider' is also common in both.
Connotations
Technically neutral in both regions. Slightly more formal than 'bot' or 'spider'.
Frequency
Equally frequent in technical contexts in both BrE and AmE.
Grammar
How to Use “web crawler” in a Sentence
[The/Our] + web crawler + verb (crawls/scans/indexes)Verb (use/run/deploy) + a + web crawler + to + verb (find/index/gather)Vocabulary
Collocations
Examples
Examples of “web crawler” in a Sentence
verb
British English
- The site hasn't been crawled yet by the new search engine.
- Our system will begin to web-crawl the domain at midnight.
American English
- The page hasn't been crawled yet by the new search engine.
- Our system will begin to crawl the web domain at midnight.
adverb
British English
- [Not typically used as an adverb]
American English
- [Not typically used as an adverb]
adjective
British English
- We analysed the crawler data from last week.
- They developed a new crawler algorithm.
American English
- We analyzed the crawler data from last week.
- They developed a new web-crawling algorithm.
Usage
Meaning in Context
Business
Essential for SEO; companies monitor how web crawlers access their sites to improve search rankings.
Academic
Studied in computer science for algorithms related to graph traversal, data mining, and distributed systems.
Everyday
Rarely used. A tech-savvy person might refer to 'Google's crawler' when discussing why a new webpage isn't appearing in search results.
Technical
The core term for an automated agent that recursively fetches web documents by following hyperlinks.
Watch out
Common Mistakes When Using “web crawler”
- Using 'web crawler' to refer to a person who browses the web (correct: 'web surfer').
- Confusing it with a 'web scraper', which extracts specific data from pages a crawler has fetched.
- Misspelling as 'webcraller' or 'web-cralwer'.
FAQ
Frequently Asked Questions
A web crawler discovers and fetches webpages by following links. A web scraper extracts specific data from those fetched pages. A crawler finds the URLs, a scraper gets the data from them.
No, they are fundamental to the internet's functioning. However, they must respect a website's 'robots.txt' file and terms of service. Aggressive crawling that harms a server can be considered an abuse.
It varies based on your site's authority, update frequency, and server health. New or frequently updated sites are crawled more often. You can see statistics in Google Search Console.
Yes, using the 'robots.txt' file or specific meta tags on your webpages. However, this may prevent your site from being indexed by search engines.
A program that systematically browses the World Wide Web, typically for the purpose of indexing webpages for a search engine.
Web crawler is usually technical, business, academic in register.
Web crawler: in British English it is pronounced /ˈwɛb ˈkrɔːlə/, and in American English it is pronounced /ˈwɛb ˈkrɔlər/. Tap the audio buttons above to hear it.
Phrases
Idioms & Phrases
- “[not typically idiomatic]”
Learning
Memory Aids
Mnemonic
Imagine a tiny robot *crawling* across the vast interconnected *web* of the internet, mapping every link it finds.
Conceptual Metaphor
The Web as a physical landscape or structure being explored by an autonomous, methodical agent (a 'crawler' or 'spider').
Practice
Quiz
What is the primary purpose of a web crawler?