Googlebot

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

  1. A software agent designed to systematically browse and index the content of websites, facilitating the organization and retrieval of information for a popular internet search engine; also refers to the automated process of scanning web pages for updating search databases; the bot acts as a web crawler that visits sites to collect data for indexing algorithms
  2. An automated program used by a major search provider to navigate and catalog internet content to improve search results; it functions by scanning websites continuously to refresh and maintain the search engine's database; this crawler visits web pages systematically to gather and update information for web indexing
  3. A search engine's automated scanning tool that travels through websites to index web content for easier public access via web searches; it performs repeated visits to collect data that helps in ranking and displaying relevant pages; the bot executes crawling operations that feed updated information into the search engine's archives

Etymology: Googlebot is a compound of "Google" and "bot," the shortened form of "robot." Google, the search company, took its name from "googol," the mathematical term for the number 1 followed by one hundred zeros. Its founders, Larry Page and Sergey Brin, chose the name as a playful signal that they meant to organize an enormous quantity of web pages. The spelling was an accidental misspelling of "googol" that was registered as a domain name in 1997, and the company was incorporated under the name in 1998. The "bot" element is older than the search engine. It came into use in computing in the 1980s as a clipped form of "robot," used for software that runs tasks automatically. Googlebot is the name for Google's automated program that visits web pages, follows their links, and copies their content into the search index. Because the name joins a company name to a general term for automated software, it is a transparent technical coinage rather than a word with a longer history.

Synonyms: web crawler, crawler, spider