In today’s digital age, data has the power to make your company the global leader. Moreover, data can help you reach your goals in many unimaginable ways. But manual data scraping and data extraction is not the solution here. If you have an online retail business, manual data extraction can become tedious and time-consuming. That’s where automated data extraction comes into the picture.

In today’s blog, we will take you on the journey of understanding the very basic concept of data scraping and how you can use it for your benefit.

So, dive right in. 

What is Data Scraping?

Data scraping is the process that imports information from websites and places it into a spreadsheet. It can be done easily with the help of a data scraping tool. Data scraping is an effective way of getting web data and saving it in a structured manner on your computer.

Some of the common uses of web scraping are as follows:

• Pricing information for travel bookers or price comparison sites
• Research for web content or business intelligence
• Providing insights for developing a pricing strategy
• Identifying sales leads
• Knowing the consumer behavior
• Studying the industry and keep a close eye on the competition
• Conducting market research via crawling public data source
• Importing data from an e-commerce site to an online vendor.

These are some of the hundreds of uses of web data scraping. It has a wide array of applications and can be used in any case that needs moving data from one place to another.

Here’s a look at how manual data scraping can be used with excel.

Data Scraping In Microsoft Excel With Dynamic Web Queries

The dynamic web query setup in excel is not only an easy but also a versatile method for data scraping if you want to conduct manual extraction. It enables you to set data feed from an external website or websites into an excel spreadsheet. The simple steps for manual data scraping are as follows:

• Open a new sheet in Excel
• Click on the cell where you wish to import the data
• Click on the ‘Data’ tab and choose ‘Get external data”
• Now click on the ‘From web’ sign
• Take note of the small yellow arrows on the top-left side of the webpage near certain content
• Paste the URL of the webpage you wish to import the data from in the address bar
• Click on ‘Go’ and the yellow arrow near the data you want to import
• Click ‘Import’ and an ‘Import Data’ box will pop up
• Click ‘OK’

Once you have followed the above-mentioned steps, you will be able to see data from the website in the spreadsheet. The dynamic web queries not only help in importing data from the website but also update the spreadsheet regularly with the latest data from the source website. That’s the reason they are named dynamic!

Now, when we say that manual data scraping is easy, it means that you have limited data to scan from. Otherwise, it is not advisable to go for manual data extraction. Automated data extraction platforms like WebDataGuru can open new doors of opportunities for your online business with exclusive operations of scraping. Also, not to forget that automated data extraction can helps you focus on your business and let the experts worry about the data.

Automated Data Scraping with Tool

If you want to scrape data regularly, it can be more effective to use a data scraping tool. Here’s a look at some of the most commonly used data scraping tools available in the market:

1. WebDataGuru

One of the leading web data extracting companies catering to various industry segments. When you want to make focused and automated web searches along with analyzing the market trends, then we have the expertise on that front. We utilize our dedicated content aggregation framework to help you reach the relevant data sources that can be useful in your business. All our initiatives are towards creating a place where online retailers can monitor the competition and the constant market changes. If you want something that lets you do that, then WebDatGuru is the key.

2. Data Scraper

The tool slots into your chrome browser extensions and enables you to choose from a wide array of ready-made data scraping methods. This helps you scrap data from the webpage loaded in the browser. The tool works effectively with popular data scraping sources such as Wikipedia and Twitter because the plugin consists of a diverse variety of recipe options from these sites. You can try to install the free version on Chrome and extract data. Watch the intro video so that you get an insight into how the tool works and how the data can be extracted.

3. WebHarvy

WebHarvy is a point-and-click scraper that comes with a free trial version. Its biggest USP is the flexibility that you can enjoy. You can make use of the in-built web browser of the data scraping tool for navigating the data that you wish to import. You can then create specific mining instructions for extracting what exactly you want from the source webpage.

4. import.io

This data mining tool is enriched with huge features that do a lot of work on your behalf. It comes with excellent features such as ‘What’s changed?’ reports which inform you about the updates on a specific webpage. This can prove to be helpful for extensive competitor analysis.

How do Marketers Make Use of Data Scraping Tool?

The Data scraping tool can prove to be useful anywhere where information is required. Here’s a look at some examples of how marketers are leveraging this technology:

1. Collecting Disparate Data

One of the main benefits of web scraping is that it helps you collect different types of data in one place. Web crawling gets unstructured and scattered data from various sources and gathers them in one place to make it structured. If you have different websites which are controlled by multiple entities, the data can be combined into one feed. There are infinite uses of web scraping.

2. Accelerate Research

The basic use of data scraping is fetching data from a single source. If you come across a website which contains huge significant data which can prove to be useful, one of the simplest ways of getting the data in a structured manner on your computer is data scraping.

You can try to identify useful contacts on Twitter and import data from these via data scraping. This will offer a glimpse of how the process can fit into the routine work.

3. Carve a Pricing Strategy

Pricing is the key to winning any kind of competition. Now, that doesn’t necessarily mean a lower price. It significantly means that you design a pricing strategy that helps you achieve all your business goals. So, you might be wondering how data scraping can help. Let us explain.

Pricing strategies are very vital for a business to succeed and sustain itself in a highly-competitive market like eCommerce. So, web data extraction can help you scrutinize millions of data and help you understand your market position and the price at which you sell your products online. Not just that, you also get information about your competition. Additionally, web data extraction provides valuable insights after thorough research and analysis. Isn’t that wonderful?

4. Competitor Monitoring

The online market is growing at a pace which we can’t even describe. This obviously, means more competition. Now, automated web data extraction tool can specifically get you the data of your industry competitors with crucial information like pricing, product range, availability, marketing offers, and much more.  

Future of Data Scraping Tool

Even if you don’t wish to use a data scraping tool in your work, it is recommended to get an insight on the same as it can become a significant skill in the coming years. You can now witness data scraping AI in the market which makes use of machine learning to get better at identifying the inputs that only humans were able to interpret such as images.

Improvements in the data scraping scenarios from images and videos will have excellent benefits for digital marketers. As image scraping evolves in the coming years, we will be able to know more about the images just like the text data scraping. It will help in doing many things in a better way.

The biggest data scrapper is Google and the entire experience of web search will transform when Google will accurately comprehend images as it does from a page of copy. This will be a huge milestone from the digital marketing viewpoint.

There are different ways you can scrape data with help of the popular data scraping tools available in the market. Based on your requirements and budget you can make the right choice.

Simple and Hassle-Free Web Scraping Solutions

We believe in the principle of providing the simplest solutions to our clients with effective results. When it comes to data extraction, we have the expertise of adding value to your business. Our core strength is our technology and people. If you want to become the front-runner in your industry, may it be manufacturing, selling a product, or providing a service, WebDataGuru is the place to come. So, order a free demo today!