Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) is a stateless protocol that follows the client-server model where a client makes a request and then waits for a response from the server. The request includes details such as the HTTP method, server location, path, query string, and headers. HTTP headers are fields or lists of strings as key-value pairs that facilitate the transmission of metadata and instructions. They’re instrumental in defining parameters such as content type, caching behavior, and authentication, ensuring efficient and secure interactions between clients and servers. In web scr ..read more

If you’re interested in web scraping, understanding HTML is key because every website is built with it. Web scraping can be used in all kinds of scenarios and can help gather data from websites without APIs, monitor product prices, build lead lists, conduct academic research, and more. In this article, you’ll learn the basics of HTML and how to extract, parse, and process data using Python. Interested in an in-depth Python web scraping guide? Click here. How to Scrape Websites and Extract HTML Before you begin this tutorial, let’s take a moment to review the essential components of HTML. Intro ..read more

Puerto Rico leads the country with the most green lodgings and the highest average customer reviews for eco-friendly properties. To celebrate Earth Day this year, Bright Data researchers analyzed the most eco-friendly lodgings in the U.S. according to information from TripAdvisor and Airbnb. Overall, Vermont, Connecticut, Kansas, North Dakota, and Puerto Rico have the highest percentage of green travel lodgings in the United States. With the travel and tourism market in the United States expected to hit $198.7bn this year, travelers interested in eco-friendly practices have some surprising des ..read more

In this guide, you will see: What wget is. Why it can be better than the requests library. How easy using wget with Python is. Pros and cons of its adoption in Python scripts. Let’s dive in! What Is Wget? wget is a command-line utility for downloading files from the Web using HTTP, HTTPS, FTP, FTPS, and other Internet protocols. It is natively installed in most Unix-like operating systems, but it is also available for Windows. Why Wget and Not a Python Package Like requests? Sure, wget is a cool command-line tool, but why should you use it for downloading files in Python instead of a popu ..read more

In today’s digital age, the internet’s landscape is ever-expanding, with millions of websites and domains coming into existence every year. This growth underscores the critical need for robust domain classification systems to maintain a secure, ethical, and user-friendly online environment. Domain classification stands as a bulwark against the challenges posed by this expansion, categorizing the web’s content to manage and mitigate risks effectively. Exploring Domain Classification: An Overview Domain classification, at its heart, is driven by the goal of enhancing online safety, security, and ..read more

Many businesses today rely on data-based decisions, and web scraping is the main method to gather large amounts of information from different sources. However, websites are becoming a more challenging target every year. They frequently update structure and layout, include dynamic elements, and apply advanced anti-bot measures. These roadblocks and the need to optimize business operational costs cultivate the transition from in-house web scraping to cloud-based services. In-House Web Scraping: Is it Still Worth it? In-house web scraping, otherwise known as local scraping, is the process of deve ..read more

Web scraping is a technique that involves automatically extracting and collecting data from websites using specialized tools or programs. It’s particularly valuable for companies who are looking to improve their data-driven decision-making processes. However, due to the complex HTML structures, dynamic content, and diverse data formats found on most websites, the effectiveness of web scraping is dependent on the tools you use. Scrapy and Selenium are powerful tools designed to facilitate web scraping. Scrapy extracts data from static websites, whereas Selenium can perform web browser automatio ..read more

Modern applications tend to have many distributed parts. For instance, you’d have message queues, storage buckets, serverless functions, servers, databases, and many more. So, it’s important to ensure that there is a standard way to access these components through a client. Well, this is where Cloud Proxies come into the picture. For example, consider the following architectural diagram for an application that’s deployed on AWS: If you look at the diagram closely, you’ll see that the client only talks with one service – “Cloud Proxy”- which handles all the internal communication. Simply put, a ..read more

Web scraping is a programmatic way of collecting data from websites, and there are endless use cases for web scraping, including market research, price monitoring, data analysis, and lead generation. In this tutorial, you’ll look at a practical use case focused on a common parenting struggle: gathering and organizing information sent home from school. Here, you’ll focus on homework assignments and school lunch information. Following is the rough architecture diagram of the final project: Prerequisites To follow along with this tutorial, you need the following: Python 3.10+. A virtual envi ..read more

In this article on the best proxy providers, you will learn: What a proxy provider is What aspects to analyze when evaluating proxy providers What the top 9 proxy providers on the market are Let’s dive in! What Is a Proxy Provider? A proxy provider is a company that offers access to proxy servers of different types around the world. A proxy server operates as an intermediary between a user’s device and the Internet, acting as a gateway. When a user connects to the Internet through a proxy server, their requests are first routed through the proxy. This forwards them to the target website or ser ..read more