When scraping data from the Google Maps database, we often encounter blocks—these are anti-scraping mechanisms, essentially the website's protective measures. So, how can we bypass these anti-scraping mechanisms to obtain the desired data? This article will start with the basics of web scraping, explain anti-scraping mechanisms, and gradually address solutions.
How to Identify Scraping Mechanisms?
If the same IP address sends dozens of requests in a row, it is akin to repeatedly going through checkout at a store without buying anything—similar to exploiting a bug in a game by repeating the same action. This is robotic scraping behavior.
What Are Anti-Scraping Mechanisms?
Anti-scraping mechanisms refer to countermeasures against web crawlers. They employ various strategies and methods to block bots that scrape web content to extract desired data. These mechanisms can impact the efficiency of scraping and ensure that data collection complies with legal and regulatory standards.
How to Handle Anti-Scraping Mechanisms?
1.Control Request Frequency: Introduce random delays of 1 to 5 seconds between requests to better simulate human behavior. Additionally, use a proxy pool to rotate IP addresses, reducing the number of visits from a single IP and lowering the probability of detection.
2.Handle CAPTCHAs: When encountering CAPTCHAs, solve them manually or use automated tools to ensure smooth and uninterrupted data scraping.
3.Simulate Request Headers: Use a list of user agents (agent_list), and randomly select one for each request. Below is an example of an agent_list (Python):
Python
agent_list = [
"Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 16_6 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/16.6 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1",
"Mozilla/5.0 (iPad; CPU OS 15_7 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/15.7 Mobile/15E148 Safari/604.1",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 14; Pixel 8 Pro) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/116.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 13; Samsung Galaxy S23) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/115.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; Android 12; Xiaomi 12 Pro) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/114.0.0.0 Mobile Safari/537.36",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64) AppleWebKit/537.36 (KHTML, like Gecko) Chrome/117.0.0.0 Safari/537.36",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Macintosh; Intel Mac OS X 14_0) AppleWebKit/605.1.15 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/17.0 Safari/605.1.15",
"Mozilla/5.0 (Windows NT 10.0; Win64; x64; rv:118.0) Gecko/20100101 Firefox/118.0",
]4.Simulate Cookies and Sessions: When sending requests, include a "cookie" entry in the request header to mimic a logged-in state. Leveraging cookies and sessions helps identify user identities. Retain and properly use relevant information to better imitate real user behavior.
In summary, handling anti-scraping mechanisms requires a combination of the above strategies. Analyze and adjust based on the structure and specific circumstances of the target website, always adhering to legal regulations and respecting website rights.