What is Web Scraping? Top 6 Tools for Web Scraping

The role of web scraping is becoming increasingly important as the digital economy grows. Continue reading to find out what web scraping is, how it works, and why it's so important in data analytics.

 

The amount of data in our lives is increasing at an exponential rate. With this surge, data analytics has become a critical component of how businesses are run. And, while data has many sources, the web is its most important repository. 

 

Companies need data analysts who can scrape the web in increasingly sophisticated ways as the fields of big data analytics, artificial intelligence, and machine learning grow.

 

 

What is Web Scraping?

 

Web scraping is a method of automatically obtaining large amounts of data from websites. The majority of this data is unstructured HTML data that is converted into structured data in a spreadsheet or database before being used in various applications. 

 

To obtain data from websites, web scraping can be done in a variety of ways. These include using online services, specific APIs, or even writing your own web scraping code from scratch. Many large websites, such as Google, Twitter, Facebook, StackOverflow, and others, have APIs that allow you to access structured data.

 

This is the best option, but other sites do not allow users to access large amounts of data in a structured format, or they are simply not technologically advanced. In that case, it's best to scrape the website for data using Web Scraping.

 

Web scraping requires two components: a crawler and a scraper. The crawler is an artificial intelligence algorithm that searches the web for specific data by following links across the internet. A scraper, on the other hand, is a tool designed to extract data from a website.

 

The scraper's design can vary greatly depending on the complexity and scope of the project in order to extract data quickly and accurately. Web scraping (also known as data scraping) is a technique for collecting content and data from the internet. 

 

This information is typically saved in a local file where it can be manipulated and analyzed as needed. Web scraping is similar to copying and pasting content from a website into an Excel spreadsheet, but on a much smaller scale.

 

When people talk about 'web scrapers,' they usually mean software applications. Web scraping applications (also known as "bots") are designed to visit websites, grab relevant pages, and extract useful information. These bots can extract massive amounts of data in a very short period of time by automating this process.

 

What is Web Scraping Used For?

 

There are numerous applications of Web scraping particularly in the field of data analytics. Scrapers are used by market research firms to collect data from social media or online forums for purposes such as customer sentiment analysis. Others collect information from product websites such as Amazon or eBay to aid in competitor analysis.

 

Meanwhile, Google uses web scraping on a regular basis to analyze, rank, and index their content. They can also use web scraping to extract information from third-party websites and redirect it to their own (for instance, they scrape e-commerce sites to populate Google Shopping).

 

Many businesses also engage in contact scraping, which is when they search the web for contact information to use in marketing. If you've ever given a company access to your contacts in exchange for using their services, you've granted them permission to do exactly that.

 

There are few limitations to the use of web scraping. It all boils down to your level of creativity and the end goal. The list goes on and on, from real estate listings to weather data to performing SEO audits.

 

It should be noted, however, that web scraping has a dark underbelly. Bad actors frequently scrape data such as bank account numbers or other personal information in order to commit fraud, scams, intellectual property theft, and extortion. 

 

It's a good idea to be aware of these risks before embarking on your own web scraping adventure. Make sure you're up to date on the legalities of web scraping. Section six will go over these in greater detail.

 

Also Read | Scrapy Tutorial for Web Scraping With Python

 

Factors to Consider for Web Scraping Tools

 

The vast majority of data on the Internet is unstructured. As a result, we need systems in place to extract meaningful insights from it. Web scraping is one of the most fundamental tasks that you must perform as someone looking to experiment with data and extract meaningful insights from it. 

 

However, web scraping can be a time-consuming and resource-intensive endeavor that requires you to start with all of the necessary Web Scraping Tools at your disposal. These are some of the factors to consider before choosing the best Web Scraping Tools :

 

1. Scalability

 

Even though your data scraping requirements will only grow over time, the tool you use should be scalable. As a result, you must select a Web Scraping Tool that does not slow down as data demand increases.

 

2. Pricing Structure Transparent

 

This means that hidden costs should not be revealed later; rather, every explicit detail should be made clear in the pricing structure. Choose a provider who has a clear model and does not mince words when discussing the features on offer.

 

3. Data Delivery

 

The data format in which the data must be delivered will also influence the choice of a desirable Web Scraping Tool. For example, if your data must be delivered in JSON format, you should limit your search to crawlers that deliver in JSON format. 

 

To be safe, choose a provider that offers a crawler that can deliver data in a variety of formats. Because there may be times when you must deliver data in formats that you are unfamiliar with. 

 

When it comes to data delivery, versatility ensures that you don't fall short. Ideally, data delivery formats should be XML, JSON, or CSV, or it should be delivered to FTP, Google Cloud Storage, or another service.

 

4. Handling Anti-Scraping Mechanisms

 

There are anti-scraping measures in place on some websites on the Internet. If you're worried about hitting a brick wall with this, these measures can be avoided by making simple changes to the crawler. Choose a web crawler that has its own robust mechanism for overcoming these roadblocks.

 

5. Customer Support

 

You may encounter an issue while using your Web Scraping Tool and require assistance to resolve it. As a result, customer support becomes an important consideration when selecting a good tool. This must be the Web Scraping provider's top priority. You won't have to worry about anything going wrong if you have excellent customer service. 

 

With good customer support, you can say goodbye to the frustration of having to wait for satisfactory answers. Before making a purchase, contact customer service and note how long it takes them to respond before making an informed decision.

 

6. Quality of Data

 

As previously stated, the majority of data on the Internet is unstructured and must be cleaned and organized before it can be used. Look for a Web Scraping provider who offers the necessary tools to assist with the cleaning and organization of scraped data. Because the quality of data will have an impact on the analysis, it is critical to keep this factor in mind.

 

Also Read | Top Data Extraction Tools

 

Tools for Web Scraping

 

Choosing the ideal Web Scraping Tool that perfectly meets your business requirements can be a difficult task, especially with so many Web Scraping Tools on the market. To make your search easier, here is a comprehensive list of some of the best Web Scraping Tools from which to choose: 

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Tools For Web Scraping

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1. ScrapingBee

 

ScrapingBee is a web scraping API that allows you to scrape the internet without being blocked. We provide both traditional (data-center) and premium (residential) proxies, ensuring that you are never blocked while scraping the web again.
 

We also provide the option to render all pages within a real browser (Chrome), allowing us to support websites that rely heavily on Javascript.

 

ScrapingBee is designed for developers and tech companies who want to manage their own scraping pipeline without the hassle of proxies and headless browsers.

 

2. Parsehub

 

Unlike Scraping Bot, Parsehub is a desktop app that allows you to connect to any website and extract data from it. You can connect to the Parsehub REST API or export the extracted data as JSON, CSV, Excel files, or Google Sheets using the sleek interface. If you want, you can also schedule the data export.

 

It's simple to get started with Parsehub. It requires little to no technical knowledge to extract data from it. The tool also includes detailed tutorials and documentation to make it simple to use. If you ever want to use its REST API, it has extensive API documentation.

 

If you do not want to save the output data to your PC, Parsehub's dynamic cloud-based features allow you to store it on its server and retrieve it at any time. Data is also extracted from websites that load asynchronously using AJAX and JavaScript.

 

3. Dexi.io

 

Dexi has an easy-to-use interface that allows you to extract real-time data from any webpage using the built-in machine learning technology known as digital capture robots.

 

Dexi allows you to extract both text and image data. Its cloud-based solutions enable you to export scraped data to services such as Google Sheets, Amazon S3, and others. In addition to data extraction, Dexi includes real-time monitoring tools that keep you up to date on changes in competitor activity.

 

Although Dexi has a free version that can be used to complete smaller projects, it does not include all of its features. Its paid version, which ranges from $105 to $699 per month, gives you access to a variety of premium services.

 

4. DiffBot

 

DiffBot provides a number of APIs that return structured data from product/article/discussion web pages. Diffbot is designed for developers and technology companies.

 

Creating in-house web scrapers is difficult because websites change all the time. Assume you're scraping ten news websites. To handle the various cases, you'll need ten different rules (XPath, CSS selectors, etc.). Diffbot's automatic extraction APIs can handle this for you.

 

5. Scrapers

 

Scrapers is a web-based tool for extracting content from websites. Scrapers are simple to use and do not require any coding. The documentation is also brief and simple to understand.

 

The tool, on the other hand, provides a free API that allows programmers to create reusable and open-source web scrapers. While that option requires you to fill out some fields or use its built-in text editor to complete a pre-generated block of code, it's still fairly simple to use.

 

Scrapers can extract data and save it as JSON, HTML, or CSV files. Although the free option has a limited number of web scrapers, you can get around this by creating your own scraper using its API.

 

6. ZenRows

 

ZenRows is an out-of-the-box web scraping API that is booming in the space. It has the best anti-bot bypass tool on the market, so if you need an easier solution to scrape any website you care about, this is going to be the definitive key.

 

It integrates with any programming language, provides you with headless browser capabilities to render JavaScript, rotating premium proxies, has plenty of built-in features to avoid getting blocked, and developers personally reply to your questions about the API.

 

One of its great advantages is you can use it to easily bypass PerimeterX and other highly adopted anti-bot protections.

 

ZenRows works at any scale, and you get 1,000 free credits upon signing up.

 

 

Also Read | How Do We Implement Beautiful Soup For Web Scraping?

 

Web scraping, also known as web harvesting or web data extraction, is a type of data scraping that is used to extract information from websites. Web scraping software can use the Hypertext Transfer Protocol or a web browser to directly access the World Wide Web. 

 

While web scraping can be done manually by a software user, the term usually refers to automated processes carried out with the assistance of a bot or web crawler. It is a type of copying in which specific data from the web is gathered and copied, typically into a central local database or spreadsheet for later retrieval or analysis.