How Search Engines Work: The Complete Guide · Lesson 1 · 3 minutes
Meet the bots
Define what a web crawler is
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Sam opens online
Sam makes sweet pastries. Sam puts a new bakery website online.
Enter the crawler
Search engines use computer programs called crawlers. A crawler is also called a bot.
What is a search crawler?
- A computer program
- A human office worker
Answer: A computer program
Crawlers are software programs, not people.
Complete the sentence:
A search engine sends a ___ to visit pages ___.
Answer: A search engine sends a bot to visit pages automatically.
A search bot visits web pages on its own.
No human reviews
No person checks each new website. Billions of pages exist. Bots do the reading.
Does an office worker read Sam's new bakery page to list it?
- No, automated bots visit pages.
- Yes, workers read every web page first.
Answer: No, automated bots visit pages.
Bots read pages without humans needing to review them.
Build the fact about how search engines work:
Answer: Crawlers visit web pages
Search engines rely on automated crawlers to check websites.
What to remember
- Search engines use automated programs called crawlers or bots.
- Bots visit and read web pages on their own.
- Human reviewers do not check every website.
Next in this course: Following links. It carries on in the Breni app.