Right now we are in an era where big data has acquired great importance. At this very moment, data is being collected from millions of private users and companies. In this tutorial we are going to briefly explain big data , in addition to talking in detail about web crawling and web scraping in the business environment.
Many of you will have heard about the importance of big data in today’s context. Especially it is related to the creation, collection and analysis of information on the web. However, one thing that many of you will not know is that all companies today can take advantage of this data, in this way, they can obtain an economic benefit from that data.
Recent research has found that organizations that employ data-driven market research techniques perform better. In this sense, they outperform the competition by 85% in sales growth, and also obtain a 25% gross margin in profits.
Increased revenues are certainly impressive, but on the other hand, long-term growth is also a critical factor in determining the success of a business. An organization with benefits can better cope with the future and economic crises. Thus, using these web crawling and web scraping techniques they can obtain between 25 and 30% more annual profits.
Before starting with web crawling and web scraping, we are going to explain what big data consists of so that later it is easier to understand them.
Big data and data collection
The transition to the digital world is producing many changes in the way of working and in society. Thanks to applications, smartphones, PCs, other devices and web pages, the amount of data we generate when connected to the Internet is increasing .
Big Data could be defined as the ability to process, or deal with, very large volumes of data with relative ease. Thus, our goal is to take advantage of the greatest amount of information that is within this data.
Also, it encompasses the study of these data to look for patterns in them. It is a way of processing information to try to discover something useful in it. The way to work with big data or big data would be the following:
- Capture and obtain data.
- These data that we have obtained are ordered and separated into smaller units, so that analyzing them is easier.
- We create an index of the data so that finding the information is faster and easier.
- We store the data.
- We analyze the data using a large number of algorithms to find the data that interests us.
- We visualize the results.
One of the ways to manage this data would be through the use of web crawling and web scraping, which we will talk about in detail later. The improvement of the hardware together with the use of the two techniques mentioned above has made it a reality that the use of the data we generate can be used for commercial uses.
Web crawling: what it is and how it works
Web crawling could be defined as a way to obtain a map of the territory. We will try to explain this concept by using a symbolic example. For a moment, let’s imagine that we start with a treasure map that contains chests of precious stones.
If we want that treasure map to be valuable, then it must be accurate. In that sense, we need someone to travel to that unknown area to assess and record all the necessary aspects on the ground.
In that sense, those in charge of carrying out this tracking are the bots , and they will be in charge of creating that map. His way of working would consist of scanning, indexing and registering all websites, including pages and subpages. This information is then stored and requested each time a user performs a search related to the topic.
An example of trackers used by large companies are:
- Google has “Googlebot”
- Microsoft’s Bing uses “Bingbot”
- Yahoo uses “Slurp Bot”
The use of bots is not exclusive to Internet search engines, although it may seem so, for the example of crawlers that we put before. Also other sites sometimes use tracking software to update their own web content or index the content of other web sites.
One thing to keep in mind is that these bots visit websites without permission. Site owners who prefer not to be indexed can customize the robots.txt file with requests so they are not crawled.
What is web scraping and differences with web crawling
On the other hand we have web scraping , which although they track the Internet like bots, have a more defined purpose, which is to find specific information. Here we are also going to put a simple example to help us understand it.
A simple definition of a web scraper could be that of a normal person who wants to buy a motorcycle. So in this way, what I would do is search for information manually and record the details of that item such as the brand, model, price, color etc in a spreadsheet. That person also examines the rest of the content like advertisements and company information. However, that information would not be recorded, they know exactly what information they want and where to look for it.
Web scraping tools work the same way, using code or “scripts” to extract specific information from the websites they visit.
We must not forget that the aptitude of the person seeking this award plays an important role in the amount of treasures or bargains that they will find. In this sense, the smarter the tool, the more quality information we can obtain. Better information means being able to have a better strategy for the future and obtain more benefits.
Who can benefit from web scraping and its future
Regardless of what business you are in, web scraping can give our business an edge over the competition by providing the most relevant data in the industry.
The list of uses that web scraping can offer us may include:
- Price intelligence for e-commerce companies to adjust prices to beat the competition.
- Scanning of competing product catalogs and stock inventory to optimize our company’s strategy.
- Price comparison websites that publish data about products and services from different providers.
- Travel websites that collect flight and accommodation price data, as well as real-time flight tracking information.
- Assist the human resources section of our company to scan public profiles in search of candidates.
- We may also track mentions on social media to mitigate any negative publicity and collect positive reviews.
The use of big data is changing the business landscape and this evolution is only just beginning. Some brands will be able to evolve and specialize in larger market niches, as a result of more information about their customers. Thanks to this, marketing companies will be able to mark their strategies with more precision.
Also, the profit margins of many products and services may fall further, due to greater price transparency. This in the future will give an advantage to companies that can increase production more efficiently. In addition, new, more specialized and higher quality products will be created in response to obtaining sales from demanding consumers who want exclusive products.
Therefore, the use of web crawling and web scraping are gradually changing the way of doing business in this new digital era that has just begun.
