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Challenges that may hamper the web scraping process

by silviawatson29
Challenges that may hamper the web scraping process

In the technology-driven era, web scraping technology is nothing less than a blessing, particularly in the modern business realm. The power of web scraping enables companies, across industries, to reach new heights by strategically utilizing insightful data.  However, a number of challenges may arise that can diminish its efficiency and effectiveness for you. It is essential to be aware of these bottlenecks so that you can choose the best web scraping services for your business. Web scrapers at Scrape Yogi use their expertise and knowledge to overcome diverse web scraping challenges like pros.

Complex website structure

One of the most common challenges that arise while performing web scraping on a large scale is the complicated structure of sites. Most websites regularly make upgrades to their User Interface to boost user attractiveness and user experience. Alterations to sites’ Javascript and HTML code elements require web scrapers to make changes to their web scraping process as well. The inability to overcome the issue may compromise the data quality. 

Analysis of use behavior

Many websites have started performing user behavior analysis to ascertain whether a robot or a human is visiting their site. They look for specific attributes like the time spent on their site, the visited pages, and the movements of the mouse cursor. In case any unusual behavior pattern is located that indicates the presence of a nonhuman actor, websites may block the IP address. Such a barrier can prevent you from performing web scraping and having access to rich and informative datasets.

Use of anti-scraping technologies 

Many websites deploy anti-scraping technologies to keep web scrapers at bay. Such technologies can forestall web scrapers’ attempts to scrape these websites. LinkedIn is a well-known site that uses anti-scraping technologies as a form of obstruction for web scrapers. An expert LinkedIn scraper can successfully overcome the challenges posed by the site’s anti-scraping technologies by leveraging his skills and knowledge.   

Existence of a hostile environment

In order to create a hostile environment for web scrapers, many websites have started integrating dynamic content on their sites. Technologies such as Javascript and Ajax are typically used to accomplish this specific purpose. The dynamic nature of the content on a website can make the web scraping process tough and challenging. For bypassing these hurdles, a web scraper may have to invest substantially in technology, which is not an easy task. Scraping websites with dynamic content is a serious challenge for most scrapers who lack adequate financial backing. 

Maintaining data quality 

A key challenge that web scraping service providers encounter revolves around data quality. As data has to be scraped on a real-time basis, web scrapers may find it problematic to make sure that the data is aligned with the necessary quality guidelines. Any compromise in data quality has the potential to negatively affect the overall data integrity. For addressing this problem, web scrapers need to constantly monitor the data and check the quality assurance elements against the latest cases. It can become a herculean task for web scrapers while performing scraping activities on a large scale. 

Poorly built data warehousing system 

The web scraping process involves the generation of humongous volumes of data. If the generated data is used by a large number of users, it is essential to efficiently manage the data. This is when the role of a robust data warehousing infrastructure comes into the picture. Inexperienced web scrapers fail to understand the importance of this aspect which restricts their web scraping activities. A badly designed data warehousing system can make the web scraping process unmanageable and time-taking. The complexity of web scraping is likely to get intensified as the functions relating to search, export and filter may become slow and cumbersome.  

Conclusion 

Today, web scraping is believed to be an indispensable technology that can define the success trajectory of businesses. In order to make the most of the innovative technology, you need to carefully choose a partner that can competently deal with the challenges that accompany the web scraping process. Scrape Yogi is one of the most trusted and well-respected names in the prevalent web scraping domain. The professionals optimally use their prowess and capabilities to effectively manage web scraping challenges and meet client needs.  

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