Search engines are in the middle of the digital world, taking up a more significant proportion of almost all the online traffic daily. Popular search engines like Google serve billions of results pages worldwide with every passing minute. With a lot happening within search engines, it is evident that marketers have been trying to get their hands on the extensive datasets for years. A common way of getting in on the action is to scrape data directly from the search engine. However, the process of acquiring such data is difficult. This approach can be aided by using a reliable, high-quality data extraction tool.
In this quick overview below, we’ll cover what is search engine scraping and the data points to extract data from search engines, in addition to discussing the most useful scraping tool. So, let’s dive in!
What is Search Engine Scraping
Another type of web scraping, search engine scraping, is an automated process of harvesting publicly available data, such as URLs, titles, descriptions, and other information from search engines. This type is dedicated to scraping search engines only.
Data Points to Retrieve from Search Engines
In this section, we have divided the most common scraping use cases. Each of the following sections has its own benefits for search engine scraping purposes.
Search Engine Results
The most basic and useful information companies obtain from search engines are industry-relevant keywords and SERP rankings. Scraping SERP results help check if search engines find relevant information as per the entered queries. It enables users to gather data on page rankings and keywords, as well as the competitive landscape, enabling the marketer to determine the next steps to optimize the page for improved organic performance.
Images
Usually, scraping images from search engines that are publicly available can be useful for a number of purposes, such as brand protection and competitor analysis. This section is specifically common with scrapers trying to detect counterfeit products or copyrighted materials. Obtaining public images and their information for SEO purposes helps with image optimization for search engines.
Maps
Today, Google Maps has become a prominent tool for finding services since near me searches have seen a huge increase recently. Businesses can scrape maps for lead generation as they are a rich data source for finding new potential customers and their contact numbers. Also, there are many marketing use cases in which businesses can use map data, such as competitor analysis.
News Results
News platforms are now a part of the most popular search engines and have become a great resource for media researchers and businesses. These platforms aggregate news articles from endless news outlets across the web. When scraping tools scrape them, they get their hands on a collection of aggregated news data. This, as a result, can be used to develop and populate one’s own aggregator site.
Shopping Results
Many popular search engines have shopping platforms where companies market their items. Obtaining public information, such as product prices, reviews, titles, descriptions, and images, can be useful for monitoring and learning about competitors’ product branding, pricing, and marketing strategies. Scraping the results of displayed items using different keywords can help companies understand the ranking algorithm and provide insights for keeping the business competitive and driving profit. It is also useful in detecting fraudsters selling counterfeit items online.
Other Data Points
Researchers can also extract public data for certain scientific instances from other sources. Academic search engines for scientific articles on the web are great examples. Using certain terms, researchers may acquire a lot of information by collecting data. The obtained data includes titles, links, citations, authors, publishers, and samples.
Tool to Use for Search Engine Scraping
Powerful tools enable the extraction of a huge amount of public data from major search engines in real-time. Here is the specialized tool to use for search engine scraping:
Scraper
Use specialized automated tools like search engine scrapers to extract publicly available data from search engines. A search engine scraper is a software application designed to scrape relevant data from a search engine and provide you with the data in a structured format. Scrapers work by making HTTP requests to search engines and obtaining the data from a SERP. Then, the tool parses publicly available content as HTML files.
They can also make requests to internal application programming interfaces (APIs) for certain data, such as contact information or product prices, that are saved in the database and delivered to a web browser through HTTP requests.
If you’re looking for a reliable SERP scraper for yourself or are just curious about the topic be sure to check out Oxylabs article on search engine scraping.
Final Words
Search engines have so much valuable public data, which companies can use to stay competitive in the market and increase profit as decisions made following accurate data can guarantee successful business plans. However, the process of obtaining such information has its own challenges. So, go for reliable scraping tools like a search engine scraper to facilitate this process.
