What is a web crawler?

2:

[seedyplayer]

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System: The following 2 messages were cut out of thread at: http://www.webmasterworld.com/search_engine_spiders/4083253.htm [webmasterworld.com] by incredibill - 12:43 am on Feb 23, 2010 (PST -8)

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What is a web crawler or a robot? Is it some software? Sorry for my complete ignorance but , I have never got a real answer to this ever.

[Pfui]

You'll find the answers right under your fingertips. For starters, read the first few paragraphs of:

Wikipedia: Web crawler [en.wikipedia.org]

See also:

Wikipedia: Internet bot [en.wikipedia.org]

Want more info? Pick your choice of major search engine and go for it!