Whenever we hear the term 'Robot', most of us think of hardware robots—machines programmed to replace humans in performing tasks. But what about robots on websites?
Web robots, also called web crawlers or web bots, are software programs that navigate websites and perform automated tasks. They handle tedious processes quickly, often faster than humans. Some web bots, like Facebook refresh bots, update newsfeeds, while others, such as Googlebots, determine how websites rank in search results.
Web bots communicate with multiple web applications and process large amounts of data efficiently. Developers create them using scripting languages such as Perl, Python, C, and PHP. Using these scripts, web bots can scan websites, index content, and perform other specialized tasks. However, some bots carry out malicious activities, allowing hackers to exploit websites or applications.
Web bots fall into two main categories: legitimate robots and malicious robots.
Legitimate web bots perform necessary, repetitive tasks, saving human effort. They include:
Hackers deploy malicious bots to exploit or disrupt websites. They include:
Web robots drive a significant portion of web activity. Many website visitors are actually bots, not humans. This is why sites often require verification, such as CAPTCHAs, to ensure a human is interacting with the page.
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