Web Data Scraping

Web data scraping is the technique of extracting specific information from web pages using automated tools or scripts. This data can be structured into formats such as CSV or JSON for further analysis.

Also known as: Web scraping, screen scraping, data scraping.

Comparisons

• Web Scraping vs. Web Crawling: Scraping focuses on data extraction from specific pages, while crawling is used to discover and index web pages.

• Web Scraping vs. Data Extraction: Scraping extracts data from web pages, while data extraction can involve other sources like databases or documents.

Pros

• Data accessibility: Provides access to publicly available data for research, business, or analysis.

• Efficiency: Automates data collection that would otherwise be time-consuming.

• Flexibility: Can be adapted to scrape data from multiple sources.

Cons

• Ethical considerations: Extracting data without permission may violate terms of service.

• Website changes: Updates to a site’s structure can break scraping scripts.

• Legal implications: Some jurisdictions have laws regulating web scraping activities.

Example

A market research firm uses a web scraping tool to collect product prices from e-commerce websites to track competitors’ pricing strategies.