Web scraping is a powerful technique used to extract data from websites, but doing it manually every time is inefficient. Automation allows you to:
Schedule scrapers to run periodically
Extract and store data without manual intervention
Monitor and handle changes in website structure
In this guide, we’ll cover:
✔ Setting up a web scraper automation
✔ Handling dynamic content
✔ Scheduling scrapers using cron jobs & Task Scheduler
✔ Avoiding IP bans & anti-scraping measures
2. Choosing the Right Web Scraping Tools
🔹 Requests + BeautifulSoup → For simple static web pages
🔹 Selenium → For JavaScript-rendered content
🔹 Scrapy → For large-scale, high-speed scraping
Example Use Case:
- Scraping product prices every 24 hours
- Monitoring stock availability from e-commerce websites
- Extracting job listings and saving them to a database
3. Automating Web Scraping with Python
A. Using BeautifulSoup for Static Pages
For pages with static HTML, use requests + BeautifulSoup.
Install dependencies:
pip install requests beautifulsoup4
Scraper Code:
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup
URL = "https://example.com/products"
def scrape_data():
response = requests.get(URL)
soup = BeautifulSoup(response.text, "html.parser")
# Extract product details
products = soup.find_all("div", class_="product")
data = []
for product in products:
name = product.find("h2").text
price = product.find("span", class_="price").text
data.append({"name": name, "price": price})
return data
# Run the scraper
scraped_data = scrape_data()
print(scraped_data)
Schedule this script to run automatically!
B. Using Selenium for Dynamic Pages
For JavaScript-rendered content, Selenium helps interact with webpages.
Install dependencies:
pip install selenium webdriver-manager
Scraper Code:
from selenium import webdriver
from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
from selenium.webdriver.chrome.service import Service
from webdriver_manager.chrome import ChromeDriverManager
def scrape_dynamic():
service = Service(ChromeDriverManager().install())
driver = webdriver.Chrome(service=service)
driver.get("https://example.com")
products = driver.find_elements(By.CLASS_NAME, "product")
data = []
for product in products:
name = product.find_element(By.TAG_NAME, "h2").text
price = product.find_element(By.CLASS_NAME, "price").text
data.append({"name": name, "price": price})
driver.quit()
return data
print(scrape_dynamic())
This script handles JavaScript-rendered pages!
4. Scheduling Scraper Execution
Instead of running the script manually, automate it using:
A. Using cron (Linux/macOS)
Edit crontab:
crontab -e
Add a job to run every day at 2 AM:
0 2 * * * /usr/bin/python3 /path/to/your_script.py
Your script now runs daily!
B. Using Windows Task Scheduler
1️⃣ Open Task Scheduler
2️⃣ Create a new task
3️⃣ Set a trigger: Daily at 2 AM
4️⃣ Set an action: Run python your_script.py
Windows executes the script automatically!
5. Avoiding IP Bans & Anti-Scraping Measures
Websites detect scrapers using CAPTCHAs, rate limits, and IP blocks. Avoid bans by:
✔ Using Headers & User Agents
headers = {"User-Agent": "Mozilla/5.0"}
requests.get(URL, headers=headers)
✔ Rotating Proxies & IP Addresses
Use scrapy-rotating-proxies or free proxy services.
✔ Adding Random Delays Between Requests
import time
import random
time.sleep(random.randint(2, 5)) # Random delay
✔ Using Headless Browsers in Selenium
options.add_argument("--headless")
Stay undetected while scraping!
6. Storing Scraped Data Automatically
A. Store in CSV
import csv
def save_csv(data):
with open("products.csv", "w", newline="") as f:
writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=["name", "price"])
writer.writeheader()
writer.writerows(data)
save_csv(scraped_data)
Useful for small datasets!
B. Store in MongoDB
from pymongo import MongoClient
client = MongoClient("mongodb://localhost:27017/")
db = client["scraping_db"]
collection = db["products"]
collection.insert_many(scraped_data)
Best for large, flexible datasets!
7. Deploying Automated Scraper on the Cloud
A. Using PythonAnywhere (Free & Easy)
1️⃣ Sign up at pythonanywhere.com
2️⃣ Upload your script
3️⃣ Schedule execution in the Tasks section
Runs even when your computer is off!
B. Using AWS Lambda (Serverless)
For event-driven scraping, use AWS Lambda + API Gateway.
Steps:
1️⃣ Create a Lambda function
2️⃣ Upload your scraper script
3️⃣ Set up a CloudWatch event for scheduling
No need to manage servers!