With the information age in full swing, transformational IT solutions have forever changed how people socialize and do business. One of the biggest groundbreaking inventions, the internet, has connected people worldwide and given us the power to share thoughts and ideas in many different ways.
Also, the power of digital communication stems not just from versatility, but also from the ability to send and store massive storage of information in bulk, a benefit which revolutionized business interactions. In 2024, all online resources can be broken down into sophisticated data storage and the tools to retrieve them.
While the massive advantages of online resources are often taken for granted, the IT explosion creates new challenges and opportunities for business owners and casual internet users. The web makes everyone smarter and more efficient, as we no longer need to rely on hearsay and inconclusive evidence of poor research when searching for knowledge. With search engines, encyclopedia pages, and fast, unrestricted access to products and services, we have more valuable information than ever before.
However, there are cases where the overwhelming amount of data can be tricky to navigate. For example, businesses that research market intelligence or clients that try to find the best prices for products and services, are bombarded with too much information that may not lead to the best solution. Fortunately, there are powerful software tools that can help all internet users collect and analyze large volumes of data in no time – data scrapers.
This article will cover the basics of web scraping, use cases for businesses and private individuals, and key tips for getting the most value from automated data collection. For example, residential proxy servers are online privacy solutions that often go hand in hand with web scraping software. Keep reading to learn more about web scraping and the necessity of residential proxy servers to maximize your efforts.
Web Scraping Basics Explained
Web scraping is a method of automated data collection from targeted pages. When the user visits a website through a browser, it is usually filled with various graphic elements, text, promotions, company information and other clutter which is rarely relevant to the visitor but is there to captivate attention and maximize engagement. This way, finding and manually copying the important parts of public data is a long and tedious process.
With data scraping, we have a script or a pre-built software tool that follows the provided instructions and extracts information from websites with far greater efficiency. With sprinkles of imitated human behaviour patterns, web scrapers can visit hundreds of web pages in just a few minutes, only extracting relevant data and neatly organizing it into a data set, perfect for future inspection and analysis.
Difference Between a Scraper and a Parser
While the term “web scraper” usually refers to the entire software tool, data scrapers are made up of two key components – a scraper and a parser. The scraper initiates the data aggregation process through a conditional script that downloads the HTML document from a chosen website or its subpages and saves the content on your device. At this point, the file is no different from the one loaded on a browser.
The real benefits of automated data collection shine bright with the effective use of web parsers, tools that take the downloaded HTML document, filter out the clutter, and organize desired information into a readable and understandable format.
Understanding the difference between these parts is crucial because not every parser will work on your targets. Parsing is not a fully automatable process, requiring the most human intervention.
Best Programming Languages for Data Scraping
While bigger companies may choose to fully outsource data scraping tasks to professionals, understanding the basic coding principles to run and maintain your scrapers and parsers will provide the necessary skills to maximize data collection efforts.
Below are the best programming languages for effective web scraping, suggested by Oxylabs, a premium residential proxy provider that specializes in data collection:
- Python: The most popular programming language with extensive parsing libraries such as Beautiful Soup, Scrapy, and Selenium.
- JavaScript: Widely used for web scraping, particularly with Node.js libraries like Cheerio and Puppeteer.
- Ruby: Popular for its libraries like Nokogiri and Watir.
- PHP: Useful for web scraping with tools like Goutte and Simple HTML DOM Parser.
- C++: Programming language with superior resource control, suitable for large and complex scraping tasks.
- Java: Good choice for web scraping with libraries like JSoup and HtmlUnit.
Web Scraping for Casual Internet Users
Web scrapers are essential tools for business operations, but anyone can benefit from automated data gathering. With a few instances of simple web scraping scripts, users can keep an eye on travel ticket prices, compare their fluctuations, and get alerts when favorable deals become available. From airline websites, and e-commerce platforms, to simple online shops, scheduled data collection cycles that keep updating your data set provide a great way to save money.
Web Scraping for Businesses
Modern companies rely on data scraping to gather market intelligence and stay ahead of the curve in their respective market. From research on competitor websites to marketing insights on search engines and social media platforms, businesses use tens or hundreds of web scrapers to compare themselves to competitors and make educated adjustments in real time.
Web Scraping with Proxy Servers
Automated data collection processes are extremely beneficial on paper, but in practice, these connections often get blocked by the recipients. This happens due to massive amounts of connection requests coming from one public IP address. There are also cases where access to sites is restricted due to geo-blocking.
With residential proxy servers, companies and individuals can assign remote homeowner identities to web scrapers and collect information without interruption. Once a time interval passes or a specific amount of requests is reached, a web scraper connection can jump to another residential proxy to avoid detection and ensure a consistent stream of extracted information.
Summary
Web scraping is an essential skill in 2024 which helps us extract the benefits from massive data storage in very little time. Check out the basics for a programming language of your choice and you will be surprised how quickly it will change your browsing experience.
