Final answer:
Search engines consist of a spider, an indexer, and search engine software. These components collaborate to gather, organize, and retrieve web data efficiently, making search engines critical tools in digital information management.
Step-by-step explanation:
The correct answer to the question about the three main components of a search engine is A. a spider, an indexer, and search engine software. These components work together to ensure efficient data retrieval:
- The spider, also known as the crawler or bot, travels across the web to collect information from various websites.
- The indexer sorts and organizes the data collected by the spider into a searchable index.
- The search engine software refers to the algorithms and programs that process user queries and retrieve relevant results from the index.
Since their inception, search engines have evolved rapidly and now play a pivotal role in navigating the vast sea of digital information on mobile devices and beyond.