Baidu is a search engine company based in China, offering many properties similar to that of Google. However, Baidu’s focus is only on China, and so are its results.

This search engine censors content and various search results according to the regulations practiced in China. However, since this search engine isn’t available for most of the world, scraping is the most popular method to import data. Scraping data helps companies manage their brand protection and enhance the performance of their SEO strategies.

In this discourse, let’s learn more about scraping Baidu and its challenges.

What Is Web Scraping?

Web scraping is a process that involves extracting data from a website. Once the relevant information is extracted, it is collected and exported into a valuable and appropriate format. The format can be an API or spreadsheet.

Many companies tend to do web scraping manually. However, the most feasible method is to use an automated tool to do the job efficiently.

Also, many people consider web scraping illegal. But that’s not the truth.

Web scraping is a legal process until the user starts extracting non-public data. It is an efficient process of getting information through a tool and then using it to benefit your organization.

Challenges of Web Scraping Search Engines

Search engine scraping involves gathering public data like descriptions, URLs, and other relevant information on the internet. To perform web scraping for search engines, specific tools are required to extract the results of your given search query and then return all the data in its original structured form. For example, solutions such as Baidu Serp API exist if you want to scrape Baidu. Visit the Oxylabs website to learn more about the advanced public data gathering tools.

Although web scraping is an incredible invention, applying this method can be challenging. This is especially true when you want to scrape search engines like Baidu.

Search engine scraping must be performed while staying within the laws of the targeted source. Also, you must have a legal consultation before scraping this search engine, which can be long and difficult.

Other challenges of web scraping Baidu or other search engines include:

  • IP Blocks: If you haven’t planned your scraping procedure correctly, you may face many issues regarding IP blocks. Web scrapers often send several requests to a particular server to get the required data. However, the server blocks the IP address if it receives frequent requests.

IP blocks can be challenging and may require many efforts to unblock the address again.

  • Handling CAPTCHAs: Unfortunately, it is not easy to conduct CAPTCHAs while scraping. CAPTCHAs have an excellent role to play as it helps keep the threats away.

However, not all tools are equipped to deal with a CAPTCHA test. And this often results in IP blocks. Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning can overcome CAPTCHAs. But that slows down the scraping results and results in receiving unstructured data.

  • Unstructured Information: Taking the last point forward, unstructured information is one of the biggest challenges of all time. To overcome this challenge, you should be clear about the scraping tool you need to perform the scraping process as effortlessly as possible.

Value of Scraping Baidu

Although scraping Baidu or other similar search engines can be a task, the results usually seem beneficial. There are many use cases in which the information extracted through search engines can support your company goals.

Here are some use cases and benefits you can reap from web scraping.

Price Monitoring

Web scraping helps to extract information on price and market trends so that you can monitor the value of your products accordingly. If you want to market your services or products in China, web scraping Baidu can help you find various price trends, giving you an idea about the general buying power of the people.

Lead Generation

Web scraping is one of the best ways to get your leads’ relevant data. You can extract data from emails, job listings, Twitter profiles, and directories on search engines. This information makes it easy for you to contact your leads and make them clients.

Market Research

Web Scrape Baidu can help you gain information regarding your target market. Scraping public data is legal and safe. However, information protected by internal bodies should be avoided. For instance, you must not scrape intellectual property, personal data, and any confidential information available on the search engine.

All the above help you gain data to grow your business and make it a success within a short time. Web scraping also initiates the collection of relevant data effortlessly, giving you an opportunity to design your strategies accordingly.

Final Words

Scrape Baidu can be challenging, but the problems aren’t more significant than the value it can add to your business. If you want to target the China market, this search engine is the best platform to extract relevant data and design your market policies accordingly.

However, you must use relevant scraping tools to help you perform the job perfectly.