If you have ever wondered how search engines work, then "Crawling and Indexing" are two important terms that you need to understand. These two processes determine how search engines like Google discover and store information about websites on the internet. In this article, we will look at what crawling and indexing means, their importance, how they affect website ranking, among other things.
Crawling refers to the process of systematically scanning websites on the internet using bots or spiders. The bots or spiders visit websites by following links from one page to another until they cover all pages on the site. Crawling frequency refers to how often search engine bots visit your site for updates. Websites that update frequently would have a higher crawling frequency than those that don't.
Indexing is the process of storing information about websites discovered during crawling. The information stored includes URL, page title, meta description, keywords, among others. Search engines use indexing data to deliver relevant results when users perform a search query.
Googlebot is Google's webcrawling bot used in indexing websites. It follows links found on web pages recursively until it discovers all linked pages on a site. Googlebot reading starts with the homepage and proceeds through every page it finds while following links within pages.
The web crawling process involves the following steps:
Indexing is crucial because it determines whether your website appears in search results or not. Websites that are properly indexed by search engines get a higher chance of being displayed in search results.
Crawling and indexing are important processes in website optimization for search engines. By understanding how these processes work, you can optimize your website for better crawlability and indexing, which ultimately translates to better visibility in search results.
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