Web Scraping Alongside Proxies To Collect Valuable Business Data
All businesses rely on data to make decisions. You might look at your competitors’ prices to gauge whether yours is competitive. You may look at market trends to see the best time to launch a new product or promotion. These are all decisions based on data. The more data businesses have, and the quicker they can access it, the better decisions they’ll be able to make. So, how can businesses collect enough data for decision-making?
In this article, we’ll explore web scraping or harvesting and how these tools can help businesses collect public data that can be used to make important decisions. We’ll also examine the role proxies play in the process and why it’s a good idea to look at proxy providers alongside your scraping tools.
- What is web scraping?
- Is web scraping legal?
- What is web scraping used for?
- Why should you use proxies for web scraping?
What Is Web Scraping?
Web scraping is an automated process for collecting vast amounts of public data from web pages using a specialized tool. The web harvesting tool will also parse the data and return it in a format that can easily be understood and evaluated, such as a spreadsheet. Web scraping tools are programs specifically created to collect the requested data. Since these tools are automated, they can quickly scan many different websites and collect the data without input from the user.
If you have programming and coding experience, you can build your web scraper, and many open-source codes are already available to get you started. By building your scraper, you can customize it to work exactly how you want it to.
However, if you don’t have coding knowledge, don’t stress. Many already-built web scraping tools are available that don’t require any coding knowledge. You can choose between free and paid tools, although the free ones can be limited. A few good web harvesting tools include OctoParse, Parsehub, and Smart Scraper.
Is Web Scraping Legal?
Collecting public data from websites for analysis and market research is legal. Information is considered public if anyone can view it, and it’s not protected by logins, passwords, or similar measures. That being said, any data behind login screens are not considered public. However, you cannot collect public data and pass it off as your own as this might infringe on copyright laws. You can use the collected data as part of your research and create new content based on it without infringing on copyright law.
What Is Web Scraping Used For?
Web scraping can be used in business for various reasons, some of which include the following:
Price Intelligence
You can use web scraping to collect your competitors’ product lists and prices. Once you have this information, you can see whether or not your price is competitive within the market and adjust it accordingly. You can ensure a successful dynamic pricing strategy by frequently monitoring prices as they change, keeping you one step ahead of the competition.
Market Research
Web harvesting tools can also give you relevant information on your market and its current trends. You can monitor ad campaigns and promotions from competitors and see how successful they are. You can monitor competitor sales to see which products are selling well and which aren’t, and even if there are any gaps in the market that you can cover.
Financial Information and Investment Opportunities
With web scraping, you can monitor financial information which is essential when setting up budgets and other financial metrics. Web harvesting can also identify any investment opportunities.
News & Content Monitoring
You can use web scraping to collect any news related to your industry to stay alert on what’s going on. You can also use it to monitor your content and see how well it’s doing and how it can be improved.
Lead Generation
You can use web harvesting for lead generation by collecting data from industry-related websites, conferences, events, and business directories. With this information, you can better define your target audience, which will benefit all marketing efforts.
Brand Monitoring
You can also use web scraping to monitor your brand by tracking any mention of your brand or products. You can also use it to evaluate customer sentiment by quickly finding any negative comments or reviews so that you can address these issues.
Why Should You Use Proxies For Web Scraping?
Residential proxies are a critical tool to use alongside your web scraper. Proxies are intermediary servers that protect the user from the internet. When you make a request, it goes to the proxy’s server first and is then sent to the website using the proxy’s details. Your IP is hidden and replaced with one from the provider. Residential proxies have the added benefit of being linked to real devices with ISP. This means using one of them will ensure that you don’t get blocked or banned when using your web scraper.
Final Thoughts
Web harvesting can be a powerful tool for market research that allows the user to collect valuable public data. This data can be used to make better business decisions, monitor the market, and stay ahead of the competition.
Ingrid Maldine is a business writer, editor and management consultant with extensive experience writing and consulting for both start-ups and long established companies. She has ten years management and leadership experience gained at BSkyB in London and Viva Travel Guides in Quito, Ecuador, giving her a depth of insight into innovation in international business. With an MBA from the University of Hull and many years of experience running her own business consultancy, Ingrid’s background allows her to connect with a diverse range of clients, including cutting edge technology and web-based start-ups but also multinationals in need of assistance. Ingrid has played a defining role in shaping organizational strategy for a wide range of different organizations, including for-profit, NGOs and charities. Ingrid has also served on the Board of Directors for the South American Explorers Club in Quito, Ecuador.
