This post is another tribute to web scraping⛏️.
Last year, I talked about some essential web scraping tools, but I thought it was high time to give you an update and expand the list, including some AI-powered options.
📝 As a quick reminder, web scraping is the process of extracting data from websites.
It involves using automated tools or scripts to retrieve information from web pages, typically in a structured format such as HTML, and then converting that data into a more usable and structured format, such as a spreadsheet or database. In other words, it copies the content of the webpage and saves it in a table format. This can be handy for finding candidates, researching markets, checking out the competition, or automating tasks.
So, let’s get started! I still love Instant Data Scraper, Evernote and Data Miner as my top go-to tools. If you’re curious to learn more about them, click here.
Here is my addition to my web scraping toolkit this year. To make it easier to understand, I will group these tools based on how tech-savvy you need to be to use them.
📌No-code Tools with a Gentle Learning Curve:
📌No-code Tools that Require Some Initial Effort:
📌Tools for Those Willing to Invest Some Extra Play Time:
- SERP API (Space Serp, Apify, Scale SERP, Value SERP, etc)
Quick Overview:
I should’ve mentioned this earlier, but it’s better late than never, right? Phantombuster comes in both free and paid versions. It’s pretty versatile and offers pre-made solutions for a bunch of platforms like LinkedIn, Sales Navigator, Twitter, YouTube, Facebook, Google, GitHub, Reddit, Yellow Pages, and more. When it comes to scraping LinkedIn, it’s top-notch, in my opinion.
So, what’s so cool about Anypicker? No coding skills are needed, and no tedious setup is required. You can scrape entire websites just by using your mouse. Anypicker has its own clever AI data pattern detection engine. It can spot and highlight the data you want to scrape, making it super simple and easy. It’s kind of like Data Miner but with the added bonus of instantly selecting the information you want to grab and checking if the source is detected correctly. Moreover, it works on LinkedIn too!
Here’s another fantastic web scraping tool worth checking out. It’s user-friendly, but there’s a bit of a twist. Instead of using a separate extension, you’ll be working right from the Chrome Developer Console to do your scraping. Now, I get it; that might sound a tad daunting at first. But Webscraper has got you covered with plenty of handy step-by-step guides to help you along the way:
Bardeen is a scraper and a workflow automation tool that operates in a user’s browser. It builds automations based on what’s open on the computer screen and uses AI to do so quickly. Unlike other automation tools, Bardeen runs as a browser extension and is context-aware. Users can extract information from open tabs for various tasks like email drafting and Slack messages. For instance, you can use it to scrape email addresses from GitHub and neatly organize them in Google Sheets. Or if you’re into LinkedIn, it can scoop up profiles and neatly tuck them away in Airtable.
Bardeen aims to make automation accessible to everyone with a focus on modern SaaS apps. If you are using productivity tools like Notion, Table, HubSpot, ClickUp, Salesforce, or Gmail, it can make your life easier. Here is a detailed review of the tool on Forbes.
- SERP API and alike
(Apify, Scale Serp, Value Serp, etc)
The SERP API is a nifty tool that lets developers fetch search engine results from the likes of Google, Bing, and Yahoo using code.
Here’s how it works: you send a request, it goes through a service provider, grabs the search engine’s response, picks out the important stuff, and hands it back to you in an organized way.
Now, I’m still in the experimenting phase with the SERP API. For my current search needs, I might not need all that fancy complexity. I’m more into simpler tools that can dish out data in a user-friendly format. Still, if you want to take it up a notch, these tools are definitely worth exploring.
What’s cool is that web scraping in 2023 has become smarter. Plus, it’s getting super user-friendly. Most of these tools don’t need any special prep work. If you’re just starting out, Instant Data Scraper is the go-to tool. As you get more confident, you can dive into advanced tools that let you customize your scrapes, tackle LinkedIn, and even automate your workflow.
Happy Scraping⛏️!
