What is a semantic index in web scraping?

TL;DR

A semantic index stores previously scraped content. Cached pages return in milliseconds instead of seconds.

What is a semantic index?

When you request a page that's been scraped before, the index returns stored data immediately rather than re-crawling. This reduces latency dramatically.

Metric

Live Scrape

Cached

Latency

2-10 seconds

50-200ms

Cost

Full crawl

Reduced

Availability

Site dependent

Always

Why it matters

• AI agents: Real-time decisions need instant data access
• User apps: Sub-second response times required
• High volume: Cache hits reduce costs and time

Olostep's maxAge parameter lets you specify acceptable cache age—instant results when fresh data exists.

Key Takeaways

Semantic indexing delivers cached data in milliseconds, essential for real-time AI applications.