Data Parsing 101: What You Need to Know

How is data parsing important in web scraping? Understand why this is an essential part of the process and learn what are the different challenges users experience when it comes to data parsing.

With many of today’s businesses migrating to the digital world, having a reliable data gathering method has become more crucial than ever. Because of this, many companies have turned to web scraping to help them locate and gather the data necessary to further promote their business’s growth.

Web scraping has made it easier and more convenient for various companies to harvest readily available data online and use it to improve their business strategies in a highly competitive industry. However, it’s not enough to simply collect data; you also need to transform it into a format you can analyze and use later on.

This is where data parsing comes in.

That said, let’s learn everything you need to know about what is parsing – from how crucial it is in web scraping to the various challenges you might encounter – in this article.

What Is Data Parsing?

You might be wondering, what does the parsing of data mean? Put simply, data parsing is the process of transforming or converting a string of data into a different format.

This is usually done so users can easily read and analyze the raw data they have gathered from various sites using web scraping tools.

For example, the data you’ve gathered from websites has a raw HTML format. This poses a problem because it’s in a form that you can’t easily read. However, using data parsing tools, you can convert it into something that makes more sense or is easier to digest.

Through data parsing, you can now understand the information and organize it accordingly to implement your business strategies.

If you want to read more about what is parsing, then find this interesting article “What Is Parsing of Data”.

Importance of Data Parsing in Web Scraping

As mentioned, data parsing is crucial in the web scraping process, especially if you’re looking to use any data you gather in your business operations.

So, why exactly is data parsing essential in web scraping? Well, data parsing makes the scraped information useable.

When scraping data online, the data and content extracted from various sites don’t necessarily come to you in an organized format. In fact, it’s often tough to make heads or tails of the information you have gathered if you try to understand it as is.

This is where data parsing tools come in. These tools can analyze the raw form of data and convert it into a more organized format and easily be understood. Thus, data parsing will transform the information so that it’s more presentable and understandable.

For example, a data parser will identify which information in the HTML string is necessary and convert it into more conventional formats, like CSV or JSON. You can then use your chosen software to show you the gathered information.

Challenges in Data Parsing

Of course, data parsing is not without its challenges. While transforming small amounts of data is relatively easy and simple enough to do, you may still encounter challenges along the way. Some examples of these challenges are as follows:

Build or buy

One of the primary challenges with data parsing is the question of whether to build your own or buy a pre-made data parser.

Building your own or having one built would mean it’s specifically designed to cater to your specific needs in web scraping. Additionally, this gives you more control over any updates or changes with the tool.

However, if you buy an existing data parser, you wouldn’t have to worry about the maintenance of your tool. Moreover, since it’s for public use, it has already been tested and proven before being put on the market.

Inconsistent data formats

Another challenge most encounter in data parsing is that not everything has the same format. In fact, more often than not, the data you want to extract from sites will have different configurations from page to page.

To address this, you might need to create a unique parsing logic that will help compensate for this issue. However, if you bought your data parsing tool, this entails additional costs.

Page structure changes

Many websites, such as huge e-Commerce sites, tend to frequently change their pages’ HTML which can throw off the established logic in your data parser. Like with inconsistent data formats, you will need to address this by adjusting the tool’s program.

Some pages also use JavaScript-generated HTML which often lacks the common attributes web scrapers use to identify what data to extract. When this happens, they might not gather the exact data you need, which can also affect your data parser’s ability.

Final Thoughts

Gathering valuable data from online sources is imperative if you want to survive and thrive in a highly competitive industry. However, to use that information correctly, you need to understand it first.

Data parsing is an essential aspect of web scraping because it helps transform raw, incomprehensible data into something that can be organized and better analyzed.

By converting this raw data into something more understandable, you’ll be better equipped to analyze the said information and integrate it into your business strategies.