Spiders are also referred to as "bots" or "crawlers," and constantly scan the Internet for new and updated Web sites.

What is a spider?

A spider, in the context of the internet and technology, refers to a program that catalogs web sites. It is an automated software tool that systematically navigates through the internet, visiting web pages and gathering information about them. Spiders are commonly used by search engines to index and categorize the vast amount of information available on the internet.

How does a spider work?

Spiders work by following links from one web page to another. They start from a given web page, known as the "seed URL," and then extract all the links present on that page. These links are then added to a queue for further exploration. The spider then proceeds to visit each link in the queue, extracting more links and adding them to the queue as well. This process continues until either there are no more links to explore or a predefined limit is reached.

What information does a spider gather?

When a spider visits a web page, it collects various types of information, including:

1. URL: The spider records the URL of the web page it is visiting.
2. HTML content: Spiders usually retrieve the entire HTML source code of a web page, which includes the text, images, and other media present on the page.
3. Metadata: Spiders also gather metadata associated with a web page, such as the title, description, and keywords.
4. Links: Spiders extract all the links present on a web page, including both internal links (pointing to other pages within the same website) and external links (pointing to other websites).
5. Text analysis: Spiders may also analyze the text content of a web page to identify keywords, topics, and other relevant information.

Why are spiders used?

Spiders play a crucial role in the functioning of search engines. By systematically crawling through the web, they enable search engines to index and catalog web pages. This indexing process allows search engines to quickly retrieve relevant results when a user enters a search query. Spiders also help search engines keep their indexes up to date by periodically revisiting web pages to check for changes.

Conclusion

In summary, a spider is a program that catalogs web sites by systematically navigating through the internet, visiting web pages, and gathering information such as URLs, HTML content, metadata, and links. Spiders are essential tools used by search engines to index and categorize the vast amount of information available on the internet.

None of the options are correct spider is actually an insect