Web Scraping: Definition, Basic Techniques and How It Works

That You Need to Know

What is Webscaping?

Webscraping is generally a data retrieval process that can be done manually or automatically. Where the manual method is obtained by directly copying data by copying and pasting from a website, while the automatic one uses a form of programming or coding through an application or browser extension. Furthermore, the application will read the data and the data copying process will occur.

• Basics of Webscraping

There are two basic techniques in webscraping to make it easier for you to understand, especially for those of you who are beginners. The two basic techniques of webscraping that you need to know will be explained in the following description:

• Manual Webscraping

The first basic webscraping technique is done manually as previously explained. The manual method is in copying and pasting from the website to the destination database. Generally, fewer errors are found in this basic technique but it has the disadvantage of being time-consuming.

• Automatic Webscraping

Next, is the automatic webscraping technique. Where, this technique allows you to use additional applications for data copying. The applications used are Google Sheets, Xpath, Parsing, Regular Expression, and other applications. Of course, using the error application does not guarantee that it will disappear, but it takes less time than manual techniques.

• Web Scraping Techniques

If the two basic techniques are briefly explained above, then below will be explained the techniques used by webscraping.

The various web scraping techniques that you can choose according to your comfort and abilities are as follows:

• Copying Data Manually

As previously mentioned, this method only allows you to copy and paste from the website you want to copy to the target website. This method is quite easy to do even for a beginner webscraper who of course is new to the world of programming and decides to do this manual technique.

• Using Regular Expression

The next technique used is using regular expression. Where, this regular expression is an additional application that allows us to automatically copy data from the desired website to the destination website.

• HTML Parsing

As mentioned in the basics of webscraping, where there is automatic data copying through parsing, namely HTML parsing. The method used is to use Javascript to target linear HTML and nested HTML pages.

• Analyzing DOM

DOM or known as Document Object Model is a document containing data in the form of content, style, and file structure in XML format on a website. DOM is an alternative method after HTML Parsing.

• Using XPath

The next application that can be used for webscraping is XPath. Where, the way it works is using a programming language. For those of you who are quite expert in the world of programming, you can do this fast method.

• Using Google Sheet

Another last application that can be used as webscraping is with Google Sheet. Where, this fairly common application can be used as a webscraping technique using the XML import function feature. This method can also be used to check whether a website is safe or not in scraping.

• How Webscraping Works

Through the various explanations above, of course it is very clear about how webscraping works. Where, copying data between websites can be done manually (recommended for beginners), then automatically using the application.

Of course, you can adjust your technical needs in using web scraping. Make sure you understand the method well so that you do not experience data errors in the data copying process.

Benefits of Web Scraping

-Competitor Monitoring

With web scraping you can do competitor monitoring. Where you can track what competitors are doing or evaluate what shortcomings your website or application has. Make sure to do the competitor monitoring process fairly!

-Price Determination

The next benefit of web scraping is price determination. Where, you can determine the price independently because you have understood the techniques and processes for establishing an application or website. Now, you can be wise in making a profit, especially those who are involved in business programming.

-Getting Leads

In the process of establishing an application or website, of course you will get leads, plus this webscraping will certainly bring up various ideas, inspirations, and innovations for your website or application. Especially, if you are stuck in finding ideas for developing an application.

Obstacles in Doing Web Scraping

There are several obstacles that you should know when doing the webscraping process. Where, you can learn these obstacles well so that they are minimized in the future using web scraping. The obstacles in doing web scraping are as follows:

Additional costs for someone with limited capital

Having special abilities for beginners who want to do web scraping

Human error can occur if not done carefully

It seems like plagiarism if not accompanied by new innovations

Sometimes it is hampered by several limited servers or limited connections so you have to use a provider or application choice that has strong access.

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