What is a web crawler primarily used for?

A web crawler, also known as a spider or bot, is primarily designed to systematically browse the internet and index web pages. Its main function is to fetch web pages, extract their content, and store this information in a structured format that can be queried and analyzed. This indexing process is crucial for search engines, allowing them to retrieve relevant pages when users perform searches.

The ability of a web crawler to sort and index pages enables efficient retrieval of information, which is essential for search engine optimization and providing users with relevant search results. This automated task helps manage the vast amount of information available online, making it possible for users to find specific content quickly and easily.