Semalt: Using Scraper Extension for Online Data Extraction

The Internet has become a major source of information for all types of businesses. If you want to get data from a website and upload it to your Google documents or in CSV or Excel worksheet, then scraping is the answer. There are a lot of scraping software on the net, but they are costly and not ideal for an ordinary user lacking technical skills. However, it is still possible to use the service without any cost using your usual browser. Google Chrome has several browser extensions accessible at Google Web Store.

Web scraper

Web Scraper is a Chrome extension that enables users to scrape data from web pages and upload them to Excel Spreadsheets or your databases for future retrieval. Once the data is extracted, you can export it as CSV or store it in CouchDB. Web Scraper allows you to scrape different types of data from multiple pages at the same time. It enables scraping of images, text, and even tables. Scraper allows data extraction from all kinds of websites even from the sites developed with the latest technology such as AJAX and JavaScript.

DataMiner

This option is a standalone browser on Chrome used to extract data from the Internet. The obtained data can later be exported to Excel worksheets or uploaded to Google Sheets. It is useful for scraping emails, Google online search results, and HTML tables among others. It is also ideal for XPath selectors.

Screen Scraper

This scraper is a Chrome browser extension for screen scraping. The process is an automatic process of extracting data from the Internet. The extracted data can then be downloaded as JSON or CSV file. It supports both Element and XPath selector methods.

iMacro

This option is a macro recorder on Chrome browser, which maintains a record of user activities. It is used for web automation, web testing, and data extraction. iMacro can perform a variety of online tasks such as downloading files, filling online forms and memorizing passwords. When using iMacro, users just need to record the function the first time and save it on the computer. If you need to perform that task again, you will not have to repeat the process. iMacro is available for other browsers such as Firefox, Internet Explorer and Chrome.

When using the scraper extension, you need to design a plan to navigate the websites and identify the data you want to extract. The extension will go through the designated site as per the user plan and obtain all the relevant data. The tool saves the time you would waste when saving data manually. If the data you need is contained in various websites, you can have the information extracted from all of them, which makes this tool even more powerful.

Scraper extension makes the extraction of data on the Internet easy. Internet users can avoid performing repetitive web tasks by recording them on the extensions and referring them any time they become necessary. The scraper extension performs routine functions such as filling online forms and remembering passwords.