Web Scraping Glossary
The vocabulary you need to talk fluently about extracting data from the web — definitions, plain-English explanations, and how each concept plays into a real scraping pipeline.
What are CSS Selectors? Syntax + Scraping Examples
CSS selectors are patterns used to select and target specific HTML elements in a web page. In web scraping, they are the primary way to locate and extract data.
What is a Headless Browser? Definition + Use Cases
A headless browser is a web browser without a graphical interface that can render JavaScript and interact with pages programmatically. Essential for scraping modern websites.
What is a RAG Pipeline? Architecture + Examples
A RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation) pipeline combines information retrieval with AI text generation, allowing LLMs to answer questions using external knowledge sources.
What is HTML Parsing? Definition + How It Works
HTML parsing is the process of analyzing raw HTML markup and converting it into a structured document tree (DOM) that programs can navigate and extract data from.
What is Proxy Rotation? How It Works for Scrapers
Proxy rotation is the practice of cycling through multiple IP addresses when making web requests to avoid detection, rate limits, and IP bans during web scraping.
What is Rate Limiting? Algorithms + Best Practices
Rate limiting is a technique that controls how many requests a client can make to a server within a given time period. Essential for ethical web scraping and API usage.
What is Robots.txt? Syntax + How Crawlers Use It
Robots.txt is a text file that tells web crawlers which pages they are allowed or not allowed to access on a website. Learn how it works and how to respect it.
What is Structured Data? Schema.org + JSON-LD
Structured data is a standardized format for organizing and labeling web page content so that search engines and machines can understand it. Learn about JSON-LD, Schema.org, and more.
What is Web Crawling? How Crawlers Discover Pages
Web crawling is the automated process of systematically browsing and indexing web pages by following links. Learn how crawlers work and their role in data extraction.
What is Web Scraping? Definition + Examples
Web scraping is the automated process of extracting data from websites. Learn how web scraping works, common techniques, and how it powers AI applications.
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