## Deep Crawling Workflows and Architecture Visual representations of multi-level website exploration, filtering strategies, and intelligent crawling patterns. ### Deep Crawl Strategy Overview ```mermaid flowchart TD A[Start Deep Crawl] --> B{Strategy Selection} B -->|Explore All Levels| C[BFS Strategy] B -->|Dive Deep Fast| D[DFS Strategy] B -->|Smart Prioritization| E[Best-First Strategy] C --> C1[Breadth-First Search] C1 --> C2[Process all depth 0 links] C2 --> C3[Process all depth 1 links] C3 --> C4[Continue by depth level] D --> D1[Depth-First Search] D1 --> D2[Follow first link deeply] D2 --> D3[Backtrack when max depth reached] D3 --> D4[Continue with next branch] E --> E1[Best-First Search] E1 --> E2[Score all discovered URLs] E2 --> E3[Process highest scoring URLs first] E3 --> E4[Continuously re-prioritize queue] C4 --> F[Apply Filters] D4 --> F E4 --> F F --> G{Filter Chain Processing} G -->|Domain Filter| G1[Check allowed/blocked domains] G -->|URL Pattern Filter| G2[Match URL patterns] G -->|Content Type Filter| G3[Verify content types] G -->|SEO Filter| G4[Evaluate SEO quality] G -->|Content Relevance| G5[Score content relevance] G1 --> H{Passed All Filters?} G2 --> H G3 --> H G4 --> H G5 --> H H -->|Yes| I[Add to Crawl Queue] H -->|No| J[Discard URL] I --> K{Processing Mode} K -->|Streaming| L[Process Immediately] K -->|Batch| M[Collect All Results] L --> N[Stream Result to User] M --> O[Return Complete Result Set] J --> P{More URLs in Queue?} N --> P O --> P P -->|Yes| Q{Within Limits?} P -->|No| R[Deep Crawl Complete] Q -->|Max Depth OK| S{Max Pages OK} Q -->|Max Depth Exceeded| T[Skip Deeper URLs] S -->|Under Limit| U[Continue Crawling] S -->|Limit Reached| R T --> P U --> F style A fill:#e1f5fe style R fill:#c8e6c9 style C fill:#fff3e0 style D fill:#f3e5f5 style E fill:#e8f5e8 ``` ### Deep Crawl Strategy Comparison ```mermaid graph TB subgraph "BFS - Breadth-First Search" BFS1[Level 0: Start URL] BFS2[Level 1: All direct links] BFS3[Level 2: All second-level links] BFS4[Level 3: All third-level links] BFS1 --> BFS2 BFS2 --> BFS3 BFS3 --> BFS4 BFS_NOTE[Complete each depth before going deeper
Good for site mapping
Memory intensive for wide sites] end subgraph "DFS - Depth-First Search" DFS1[Start URL] DFS2[First Link → Deep] DFS3[Follow until max depth] DFS4[Backtrack and try next] DFS1 --> DFS2 DFS2 --> DFS3 DFS3 --> DFS4 DFS4 --> DFS2 DFS_NOTE[Go deep on first path
Memory efficient
May miss important pages] end subgraph "Best-First - Priority Queue" BF1[Start URL] BF2[Score all discovered links] BF3[Process highest scoring first] BF4[Continuously re-prioritize] BF1 --> BF2 BF2 --> BF3 BF3 --> BF4 BF4 --> BF2 BF_NOTE[Intelligent prioritization
Finds relevant content fast
Recommended for most use cases] end style BFS1 fill:#e3f2fd style DFS1 fill:#f3e5f5 style BF1 fill:#e8f5e8 style BFS_NOTE fill:#fff3e0 style DFS_NOTE fill:#fff3e0 style BF_NOTE fill:#fff3e0 ``` ### Filter Chain Processing Sequence ```mermaid sequenceDiagram participant URL as Discovered URL participant Chain as Filter Chain participant Domain as Domain Filter participant Pattern as URL Pattern Filter participant Content as Content Type Filter participant SEO as SEO Filter participant Relevance as Content Relevance Filter participant Queue as Crawl Queue URL->>Chain: Process URL Chain->>Domain: Check domain rules alt Domain Allowed Domain-->>Chain: ✓ Pass Chain->>Pattern: Check URL patterns alt Pattern Matches Pattern-->>Chain: ✓ Pass Chain->>Content: Check content type alt Content Type Valid Content-->>Chain: ✓ Pass Chain->>SEO: Evaluate SEO quality alt SEO Score Above Threshold SEO-->>Chain: ✓ Pass Chain->>Relevance: Score content relevance alt Relevance Score High Relevance-->>Chain: ✓ Pass Chain->>Queue: Add to crawl queue Queue-->>URL: Queued for crawling else Relevance Score Low Relevance-->>Chain: ✗ Reject Chain-->>URL: Filtered out - Low relevance end else SEO Score Low SEO-->>Chain: ✗ Reject Chain-->>URL: Filtered out - Poor SEO end else Invalid Content Type Content-->>Chain: ✗ Reject Chain-->>URL: Filtered out - Wrong content type end else Pattern Mismatch Pattern-->>Chain: ✗ Reject Chain-->>URL: Filtered out - Pattern mismatch end else Domain Blocked Domain-->>Chain: ✗ Reject Chain-->>URL: Filtered out - Blocked domain end ``` ### URL Lifecycle State Machine ```mermaid stateDiagram-v2 [*] --> Discovered: Found on page Discovered --> FilterPending: Enter filter chain FilterPending --> DomainCheck: Apply domain filter DomainCheck --> PatternCheck: Domain allowed DomainCheck --> Rejected: Domain blocked PatternCheck --> ContentCheck: Pattern matches PatternCheck --> Rejected: Pattern mismatch ContentCheck --> SEOCheck: Content type valid ContentCheck --> Rejected: Invalid content SEOCheck --> RelevanceCheck: SEO score sufficient SEOCheck --> Rejected: Poor SEO score RelevanceCheck --> Scored: Relevance score calculated RelevanceCheck --> Rejected: Low relevance Scored --> Queued: Added to priority queue Queued --> Crawling: Selected for processing Crawling --> Success: Page crawled successfully Crawling --> Failed: Crawl failed Success --> LinkExtraction: Extract new links LinkExtraction --> [*]: Process complete Failed --> [*]: Record failure Rejected --> [*]: Log rejection reason note right of Scored : Score determines priority
in Best-First strategy note right of Failed : Errors logged with
depth and reason ``` ### Streaming vs Batch Processing Architecture ```mermaid graph TB subgraph "Input" A[Start URL] --> B[Deep Crawl Strategy] end subgraph "Crawl Engine" B --> C[URL Discovery] C --> D[Filter Chain] D --> E[Priority Queue] E --> F[Page Processor] end subgraph "Streaming Mode stream=True" F --> G1[Process Page] G1 --> H1[Extract Content] H1 --> I1[Yield Result Immediately] I1 --> J1[async for result] J1 --> K1[Real-time Processing] G1 --> L1[Extract Links] L1 --> M1[Add to Queue] M1 --> F end subgraph "Batch Mode stream=False" F --> G2[Process Page] G2 --> H2[Extract Content] H2 --> I2[Store Result] I2 --> N2[Result Collection] G2 --> L2[Extract Links] L2 --> M2[Add to Queue] M2 --> O2{More URLs?} O2 -->|Yes| F O2 -->|No| P2[Return All Results] P2 --> Q2[Batch Processing] end style I1 fill:#e8f5e8 style K1 fill:#e8f5e8 style P2 fill:#e3f2fd style Q2 fill:#e3f2fd ``` ### Advanced Scoring and Prioritization System ```mermaid flowchart LR subgraph "URL Discovery" A[Page Links] --> B[Extract URLs] B --> C[Normalize URLs] end subgraph "Scoring System" C --> D[Keyword Relevance Scorer] D --> D1[URL Text Analysis] D --> D2[Keyword Matching] D --> D3[Calculate Base Score] D3 --> E[Additional Scoring Factors] E --> E1[URL Structure weight: 0.2] E --> E2[Link Context weight: 0.3] E --> E3[Page Depth Penalty weight: 0.1] E --> E4[Domain Authority weight: 0.4] D1 --> F[Combined Score] D2 --> F D3 --> F E1 --> F E2 --> F E3 --> F E4 --> F end subgraph "Prioritization" F --> G{Score Threshold} G -->|Above Threshold| H[Priority Queue] G -->|Below Threshold| I[Discard URL] H --> J[Best-First Selection] J --> K[Highest Score First] K --> L[Process Page] L --> M[Update Scores] M --> N[Re-prioritize Queue] N --> J end style F fill:#fff3e0 style H fill:#e8f5e8 style L fill:#e3f2fd ``` ### Deep Crawl Performance and Limits ```mermaid graph TD subgraph "Crawl Constraints" A[Max Depth: 2] --> A1[Prevents infinite crawling] B[Max Pages: 50] --> B1[Controls resource usage] C[Score Threshold: 0.3] --> C1[Quality filtering] D[Domain Limits] --> D1[Scope control] end subgraph "Performance Monitoring" E[Pages Crawled] --> F[Depth Distribution] E --> G[Success Rate] E --> H[Average Score] E --> I[Processing Time] F --> J[Performance Report] G --> J H --> J I --> J end subgraph "Resource Management" K[Memory Usage] --> L{Memory Threshold} L -->|Under Limit| M[Continue Crawling] L -->|Over Limit| N[Reduce Concurrency] O[CPU Usage] --> P{CPU Threshold} P -->|Normal| M P -->|High| Q[Add Delays] R[Network Load] --> S{Rate Limits} S -->|OK| M S -->|Exceeded| T[Throttle Requests] end M --> U[Optimal Performance] N --> V[Reduced Performance] Q --> V T --> V style U fill:#c8e6c9 style V fill:#fff3e0 style J fill:#e3f2fd ``` ### Error Handling and Recovery Flow ```mermaid sequenceDiagram participant Strategy as Deep Crawl Strategy participant Queue as Priority Queue participant Crawler as Page Crawler participant Error as Error Handler participant Result as Result Collector Strategy->>Queue: Get next URL Queue-->>Strategy: Return highest priority URL Strategy->>Crawler: Crawl page alt Successful Crawl Crawler-->>Strategy: Return page content Strategy->>Result: Store successful result Strategy->>Strategy: Extract new links Strategy->>Queue: Add new URLs to queue else Network Error Crawler-->>Error: Network timeout/failure Error->>Error: Log error with details Error->>Queue: Mark URL as failed Error-->>Strategy: Skip to next URL else Parse Error Crawler-->>Error: HTML parsing failed Error->>Error: Log parse error Error->>Result: Store failed result Error-->>Strategy: Continue with next URL else Rate Limit Hit Crawler-->>Error: Rate limit exceeded Error->>Error: Apply backoff strategy Error->>Queue: Re-queue URL with delay Error-->>Strategy: Wait before retry else Depth Limit Strategy->>Strategy: Check depth constraint Strategy-->>Queue: Skip URL - too deep else Page Limit Strategy->>Strategy: Check page count Strategy-->>Result: Stop crawling - limit reached end Strategy->>Queue: Request next URL Queue-->>Strategy: More URLs available? alt Queue Empty Queue-->>Result: Crawl complete else Queue Has URLs Queue-->>Strategy: Continue crawling end ``` **📖 Learn more:** [Deep Crawling Strategies](https://docs.crawl4ai.com/core/deep-crawling/), [Content Filtering](https://docs.crawl4ai.com/core/content-selection/), [Advanced Crawling Patterns](https://docs.crawl4ai.com/advanced/advanced-features/)