Here is a bunch of things that can get you in trouble while web crawling:
Not respecting Robots.txt.
Not using Asynchronous connections to speed up crawling.
Not use CSS selectors or XPath to reliably scrape data.
Not use a user-agent string.
Not rotate user-agent strings.
Not add a random delay between requests to the same domain.
Not use a framework.
Not monitor the progress of your crawlers.
Not use a rotating proxy service like Proxies API.
Being smart about web crawling is realizing that it's not about the code. In our experience at Teracrawler developing cloud-based web crawlers at scale, most of the web crawling and web scraping is about controlling these variables. Having a systematic approach to web crawling and getting to a place where you can get frequent and reliable data and scale day in and day out can change the fortunes of your company.
Top comments (1)
Nice! This blog nails it on the head with common web crawling mistakes to dodge. From respecting Robots.txt to using asynchronous connections, it's all about getting those basics right. And hey, don't forget about tools like Crawlbase for smooth sailing through those proxy hassles.