"Crawling behavior" refers to the behavior of software or a program that automatically browses web pages on the internet and extracts data.
Typical functions of software in the field of "crawling behavior" include:
URL detection and extraction: Identification of URLs on web pages to discover further links and content that can be crawled.
Page recognition and indexing: Analysis of web page content to extract relevant information and store it in an index.
Follow-links capability: Following links on a web page to discover and crawl additional pages.
Robots.txt and meta-tags support: Observance of robots.txt files and meta-tags instructions on web pages to adjust crawling behavior accordingly.
Processing of HTTP status codes: Interpretation of HTTP status codes such as 404 (page not found) or 301 (redirect) to adjust crawling behavior accordingly.
Data extraction and storage: Extraction of structured data such as texts, images, links, and metadata from web pages and storing this data for further processing.
Crawl control and prioritization: Controlling crawl speed and prioritizing web pages based on various criteria such as popularity, freshness, or relevance.
Error detection and handling: Detection and handling of errors during the crawling process, including dead links, timeouts, or server errors.
Authentication and access control: Ability to authenticate on web pages with access restrictions such as password protection or user login.
Logging and reporting: Logging crawling activities and generating reports on completed crawls, errors, and extracted data.
