Spider

Definition

A “Spider”, also known as a crawler or a web robot, is an automated software program used by search engines like Google to browse the internet and collect information. They crawl through websites, index site content, follow links and gather details on website updates and their relevancy. All this information helps search engines to understand, rank and display sites in search results effectively.

Spider Relevance For SEO

Spiders play a crucial role in SEO because they retrieve and index information about websites that later determines the site’s ranking on result pages. SEO strategies are used to optimize a website in a manner that makes it easy for spiders to crawl and understand the content. The faster and more efficiently a spider can crawl and index the site, the higher the likelihood the site will rank well in search engine results. As a result, understanding spider functionality is essential to successful SEO practices.

Crawling and Indexation Best Practices for SEO

Following are best practices to make a website more accessible and easier for spiders to crawl:

Robots.txt file: Use the robots.txt file to guide spiders on which pages to crawl and which to avoid. This prevents the spider from accessing irrelevant or duplicate content.
Sitemap: Having an XML sitemap aids spiders in efficiently crawling the site and understanding the site structure. It also helps spiders find new or updated content.
Clean URLs: URLs must be SE-friendly and easily readable, with keywords relevant to the content. This aids spiders in understanding and indexing the page content.
Internal Linking: Proper internal linking ensures spiders can easily navigate through your site. It also illustrates the importance and relevance of pages to each other.
Mobile Optimization: As most spiders utilize a mobile-first indexing approach, it is essential that sites are well-optimized for mobile viewing.
Page Load Speed: Spiders favor websites that load quickly. As a result, optimizing your website’s speed will lead to better indexing.