Web scraping is the process of extracting data from websites. It is also called as data scraping and data extraction. Using web scraping tools, one can effortlessly gather a mass amount of required information and data from various websites. It came as a solution to the manual work of searching through the web pages and then copy-pasting the required information.

The legality of web scraping depends on the data being extracted. It is legal to scrap the open-source data available on the web. Every website has its own terms and conditions, so it is better to check them before scraping data. So web scraping as a tool is not illegal, but it needs to be used cautiously and sensitively. However, there are no legal laws that can regulate web scraping.

The primary purpose of web cramping is to gather data from various websites and store it as a structured database in an easily reusable way. Data can be scarped for multiple reasons such as lead generation, data analysis, research and many more.

Web scraping is not data mining. In fact, web scraping and data mining are two different concepts. Web scraping refers to the process of extracting data from websites and structuring them into a conveniently usable format. Data mining refers to the process of analysing datasets that are already available to gather valuable insights.

Web crawling and web scraping are two related concepts. Web crawling is the process of locating the required information and discovering the URLs on the web. Web scraping is the process of extracting data from the web. So web scraping tools need the support of web crawling.

A robots.txt is a text file that tells the crawlers, bots or spiders which URLs and links can be accessed on a website. Robots.txt is specified by the website owners, conveying how their website should be crawled. Many websites allow only very limited data to be extracted from them, while some website doesn’t allow any type of extraction. So it is essential to understand the robot.txt file to prevent from getting banned/blocklisted or facing legal issues later.

Yes, web scraping can be detectable by website owners. But if you are extracting the permitted or open-source information, it is not an issue. It is important to be polite while scraping rather than spamming the same webpage or website. If the website owners find the crawlers, bots or spiders’ behaviour disturbing the experience of the real visitors, there is a high chance of blocklisting the scraper.

It is common for websites to implement blocking mechanisms to stop malicious scraping attacks. IF you are sending out a large number of data requests affecting the internet server, there are high chances of it getting crashed. So while scraping, we need to be conservative and gentle. One of the main points to achieve it is by slowing down the scraping process that matches the behaviour of human beings browsing the website.

We can build web scraping tools with features that can automatically solve CAPTCHA during the extraction process. Many CAPTCHA solvers are available, which can be easily integrated into the scraping systems.

The data extracted can be used as insights or used as resources for other purposes, but one needs to have consent from the owner to republish them. You can always use the data extracted in a way that does not infringe the copyrights of the website owners or publishers.

Yes, web scraping tools, along with extracting text information, can download media files from websites directly and save them to the cloud, dropbox or other servers.

The cost of building the web scraping tool/solution depends on the complexity of the websites and the amount of data that needs to be scrapped. With each customisation, the cost of the scraper will grow expensive as it requires additional time and resources to create a scraper from scratch.

We give our customers to gather their data in CSV, Excel or JSON files. But if they need any other specific format, we can help them with that.

It depends on the complexity of the website being scraped. If the websites are complex and needs more data to be scraped, it takes up to 2 weeks; rather, if your requirement is simple, the scraped data can be delivered within 2-3 days.

Yes, you can decide the schedule of web scraping. It can be daily, bi-weekly, weekly, monthly, or other random schedules/intervals according to your requirements.