Web scraping is valuable for various reasons, such as market trend research, customer behavior analysis, and other data gathering.
You can do it manually, which can take time and might provide inaccurate or insufficient results. Therefore, you can use a scraper API to automate the process and make it more relevant to your needs.
A scraper API is an application programming interface (API) allowing users to automate the web scraping process.
That means there’s no need to do the mundane and repetitive task of copying and pasting vast amounts of data since a web scraping API can do it for you.
Moreover, scraper APIs gather unstructured data and convert it into structured data ready for processing and use. Therefore, you can request specific data relevant to your needs and let a scraping API do the job quickly and efficiently.
However, web scraping can raise legal issues if the data your scraping API collects is protected. That can lead to IP bans or getting on your target website’s blacklist, making it impossible to gather the needed data.
How do websites prevent scraping?
Websites often take many security measures against web scrapers. They can use CAPTCHAs to prevent bots and scraping APIs from accessing their data.
Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/wLiP-R6Vd2g
Moreover, they usually limit the amount of HTTP requests per hour to avoid bots misusing their data.
Furthermore, they can blacklist web scraping services altogether. That will prevent these actions from taking place on their website.
Websites can also block IP addresses if they notice constant scraping requests to protect their data from potential misuse.
How to avoid getting blacklisted while using scraper APIs
Fortunately, there are ways to get around the restrictions various websites set. Even with these security measures in place, your web scraping API can still do the job for you.
However, we highly recommend implementing the following tips to ensure your every web scraping process goes smoothly.
1. Use a proxy
The crucial step in web scraping is using a proxy. Using a reliable proxy provider and implementing it into your web scraping activities is essential.
A proxy is an intermediary between your computer and the websites you visit, including those you want to scrape. It ensures the scraper’s anonymity and allows you to access geo-restricted content.
2. Use IP rotation
Many websites detect web scraping activities by examining IP addresses that request scraping access. If they receive numerous web scraping requests from the same IP address, they can blacklist it to protect their data.
One way to avoid getting an IP ban when scraping websites is to use IP rotation. It sends each web request from different IP addresses without the target websites noticing.
3. Set a referrer
Another way to avoid getting blacklisted from target websites is to set a referrer header.
You can set an HTTP request header for Google. That way, you make it look like your web request is as organic as a real user’s web request. Moreover, you can change it to be specific for certain countries and scrape a site in different countries.
Customizing the referrer header makes your requests seem more authentic and less threatening to target websites.
4. Set random schedules for scraping
If websites notice a time pattern in requests for web scraping, they’ll realize it’s a scraping API and blacklist you from accessing their data. For example, if they receive frequent HTTP requests or at fixed time intervals, it’s only a matter of time before you get an IP block.
Therefore, use randomized delays and random schedules for sending scraping requests. Moreover, try to slow down the web scraping process to prevent your target websites from detecting your API for web scraping.
5. Scrape Google Cache
If everything else fails, you can scrape data from Google Cache. That is helpful for websites that don’t change frequently. Moreover, it’s valuable for websites that are challenging to extract data from because of various anti-scraping mechanisms.
Therefore, scraping directly from Google Cache is more reliable for data that isn’t time-sensitive. However, it won’t work for all websites as some block Google from caching their data for this specific reason.
Quick Links:
- 10 Best Websites to Practice Web Scraping Skills
- How to Browse the Web with the Most Privacy and Security?
- Bright Data Scraping Browser Review
Conclusion: Scraper API Tips 2024
Web scraping is crucial for market research, competitor analysis, price monitoring and optimization, trend forecasting, and other activities. However, it takes time, and some websites might prevent you from doing it.
Scraper APIs are software solutions for automating the web scraping process to save time and do more accurate data analysis. However, web scraping can raise some legal concerns, which results in websites banning scrapers from accessing their data.
Fortunately, you can get around these restrictions in several ways and continue web scraping without a hitch. You can use a proxy, IP rotation, custom request headers, and random schedules for scraping, and scraping the Google Cache.
With these tips, you can avoid getting blacklisted when using a scraper API and easily extract data from any website.
