5 common issues data scrapers face

 1. Website Blocking (IP bans / Captchas)

Problem: Sites detect bots and block your IP or show captchas.

Solution:

✅ Use rotating proxies (residential > datacenter)

✅ Randomize headers and user agents

✅ Add sleep delays to act human

✅ Respect robots.txt when needed

2. Dynamic Content (JavaScript-Rendered Pages)

Problem: Content loads after the page using JavaScript, so your scraper sees... nothing.

Solution:

🔧 Use tools like Selenium, Playwright, or Puppeteer

🔍 Look for hidden APIs in DevTools → Network tab

🧠 Bonus: Use headless browsers only when necessary (they’re heavy!)

 3. Website Structure Keeps Changing

Problem: One site update and your scraper breaks.

Solution:

🔁 Write flexible scrapers using semantic tags (classes, IDs)

🧱 Build modular code for easy updates

👁️‍🗨️ Monitor target pages for layout changes

4. Legal & Ethical Concerns

Problem: Not everything on the internet is okay to scrape.

Solution:

📜 Read the site’s Terms of Service

🔐 Never scrape personal or sensitive data

🧩 Stick to public, accessible, and non-restricted content

💬 (If in doubt, talk to a legal expert!)

5. Data Duplication or Inconsistency

Problem: Your scraped data is messy, inconsistent, or full of duplicates.

Solution:

🧼 Validate and clean data with tools like pandas

   Use unique identifiers to filter out duplicates

 Save in structured formats: JSON, clean CSVs, or databases