Deep Web

Welcome to the Deep Web Library Guide. This guide will help you understand what the Deep Web is, why it is so difficult to search, and the efforts being made to uncover the information located within it.

The Deep Web consists of all information on the World Wide Web which cannot be located by general-purpose search engines (Google, Yahoo, Bing etc.).  There's a large amount of information which even powerful engines such as these cannot find. There is nothing inherently special about Deep Web pages, you just don't see them in regular search results.

The terms "Deep Web" and "Dark Web" are sometimes used interchangeably, but there is a difference. The Dark Web is highly encrypted and can only be accessed by special tools such as a tor browser. It can be used for secure transactions, but is also notorious as a site for criminal activity. 

A web page is often defined as a document on the web with a single, unique web address.  A website is a group of web pages created by an individual, group or organization.  Pages within a web site link to one another and are usually related by topic.  One website may contain many web pages.

Synonyms for Deep Web:

• Hidden Web
• Invisible Web
• Secret Web

Synonyms for Web Crawler:

• (Web) Spider
• (Web) Bot

Open Web, Visible Web, Surface Web: The portion of the Web which is accessible to general search engines.  This part of the Web is free of charge, available for use by anyone. However, note that there are free sites within the Deep Web as well, which for one reason or another are inaccessible to web crawlers.

Dark Web: part of the deep web, used for privacy, secure transactions and (sometimes) criminal activity.