In today’s fast-paced business environment, efficient data extraction is a critical factor that influences market research. In order to capture a larger market share, businesses need to prioritize obtaining critical information. Since manual data collection is often time-consuming, businesses often use web scraping automation to reduce this burden, allowing them to focus on other important tasks.
Pricing information is essential for businesses that want to remain competitive in the market. It helps in developing an overall strategy and enables them to adjust prices in line with competitors.
Are you considering implementing price scraping for your company? Be aware of several challenges that come with web scraping, such as complex web page structures, captchas, login requirements, and IP blocking. In this article, we’ll cover strategies to avoid being blocked by the target server and dive into the role of user agents in price scraping.
First, it’s necessary to clarify some key definitions:
Web Scraping
Web scraping is the process of extracting publicly available data from websites and saving it to a computer or local file. It has become an indispensable tool for business development in today’s digital environment.
Price Scraping
Price scraping involves using web scraping tools or robots to collect price data from websites. The process entails searching and copying this data for subsequent analysis. While you can do this manually, price scraping tools can greatly speed up the process, especially when processing data from multiple websites. Once the data is collected, businesses can analyze it to improve their pricing strategies, including managing promotions, discounts, and specials.
User Agents
Did you know that everyone who browses the web has a user agent? A user agent acts as a representative of the user on the internet. But what exactly does a user agent stand for? What is a user agent?
A user agent acts as an intermediary between the user and the internet. When your browser connects to a website, it sends the user agent string in the HTTP header. Web servers use the user agent data to tailor content for different web browsers and operating systems. Why do you need a user agent? Browsing would be very complex and time-consuming if you had to provide details about your browser, operating system, software, and device type every time you visited a website. That's why every browser includes a user agent.
Price scraping with user agents
Price scraping is an important form of web scraping for businesses. It enables e-commerce companies to monitor and track real-time product prices on competitor websites.
Some websites block scraping, usually because they don't support open data access. There are several ways to prevent web scraping, and one common technique is to block requests from user agents that are not associated with major browsers. This is one of the main ways data sources detect and filter suspicious requests.
During web scraping, a large number of requests are processed by the web server. If the user agent in these requests is the same, the server may flag it as suspicious activity. Many web scrapers do not change their user agent, but as you can see, doing so is essential to avoid detection. In addition, you should also ensure that the user agent is kept up to date, as browsers and operating systems regularly update their user agent strings.
Common User Agents for Price Scraping
There is no special user agent specifically for price scraping. It is crucial to use a user agent for web scraping to avoid being blocked by the data source server. Using an outdated or less common user agent increases the risk that the web server will flag your scraping activity as suspicious, which may result in being blocked.
If you are looking for a high-quality user agent for web scraping, consider using ISPKEY's API. This powerful tool is specifically designed to handle data collection from a variety of websites and has a high success rate in data transfer.
Final Thoughts
In short, the user agent acts as a bridge between the user and the Internet. It provides the web server with basic details about your browser, software, device type, etc. Based on this information, the web server can tailor the web pages displayed to you.
User agent is one of the initial checks that websites use to identify suspicious requests. By configuring the user agent for price scraping, you can reduce the likelihood of being blocked by the target server. If you are well-informed and prepared, you can sign up and use ISPKEY. We welcome your inquiries and look forward to discussing your specific needs. Strategies for being blocked by the target server and dive into the role of user agent in price scraping.