Crawling is the process through which search engines discover content on the web. Automated bots, often called crawlers or spiders, systematically browse pages, following links to find new or updated information. The data they collect forms the foundation of search engine indexing — if a page isn’t crawled, it can’t appear in results.
For marketers, understanding crawling is essential to SEO. Factors like site architecture, internal linking, and technical health determine how easily bots can navigate a website. A clear hierarchy, updated XML sitemap, and error-free code make crawling efficient. Conversely, broken links, redirect loops, or blocked resources can waste crawl budget and hide valuable content from search engines.
Crawling isn’t a one-time event but a continuous process. Search engines prioritize pages they deem fresh, relevant, and authoritative. That’s why consistency in publishing and maintaining a technically clean site keeps visibility high.
In short, crawling is how discovery begins. Before rankings, before traffic, there’s visibility — and visibility starts with being found.
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