How Does a Data Scraper Work?
At its core, a data scraper interacts with a website similarly to how a browser does. It sends a request to the website’s server, retrieves the HTML content, and then extracts specific pieces of data based on predefined rules. Here’s a general breakdown of how a typical data scraper operates:
Access the Website: The scraper makes an HTTP request to the target website, requesting the HTML or XML content, much like how your browser requests a webpage when you visit a URL.
Parse the HTML Structure: Once the scraper has the raw HTML content, it parses the structure to identify the data it’s looking for. This could involve targeting specific HTML tags, such as
<div>
,<table>
, or<span>
, which may contain prices, product names, or contact information.Extract the Data: After identifying the relevant elements in the HTML, the scraper extracts the text or attributes of those elements (e.g., product prices, descriptions, or links).
Store the Data: The extracted data is then saved into a structured format like CSV, Excel, JSON, or a database for further analysis.
This entire process happens automatically and can be scheduled to run at specific intervals, allowing users to collect fresh data regularly.