6 ways you can use web scraping for SEO

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Did you know that you can use web scraping to help with your SEO efforts? No, I’m not talking about spamming links or stuffing keywords into your content. There are several ways that scraping can help improve your site’s visibility and ranking.

Web scraping has been a skill I’ve learned to improve my SEO! It’s helped me gather the right type of data, which I can then export into a spreadsheet and filter, allowing for further analysis. 

I’ll give you 6 simple but effective ways you can use web scraping for SEO! 

But first, what is web scraping?

What is web scraping?

By definition, web scraping is the process of gathering data from a website. This data is gathered and then translated into a more user-friendly form. Whether it’s a spreadsheet or an API, you’re looking for something similar.

Web scraping may be done manually, but when it comes to extracting web data, automated technologies are generally preferable since they can operate more quickly.

I use an automated web scraping tool to help gather the right type of data!

Web scraping for SEO

Now that we know what web scraping is, here are 6 ways you can use web scraping for SEO:

  • Scrape Search engines (SERP)
  • Keyword Research
  • Scrape your competitor’s blog
  • Scraper the website’s sitemap
  • Find backlink opportunities
  • Quickly export all of the internal link opportunities

Scrape Search engines (Serps)

I scrape the SERPs (search engine results page) of a particular keyword. I can then export all the URLs into an excel sheet so that I can analyze, filter and build content around those keywords. This helps me find out where you rank for your targeted keyword!

You may also use this as an opportunity to see how well your competitors are ranking compared with yours in SERPs! And even look at their backlinks, meta descriptions and more! You don’t have to manually type each URL in the search engine. You can scrape all of that information using web scraping!

I’ll go more into detail, but I scrape search engines to quickly export internal links and find backlink opportunities. 

Scarpe your competitor’s blog

I always say, there’s no need to reinvent the wheel, you just need to do it better. When I first came on as an SEO content strategist, I scraped our competitors’ entire blog and was able to export the title, URL and date they were posted all in just a few clicks! 

SEMRush and Ahrefs do have a keyword gap tool that allows seeing what keywords your competitors are ranking for that your arent. But scraping your competitor’s blog gives you a spreadsheet with all of their URLs. 

This has helped me come up with keywords that we should target and understand how we can outrank them.

Scrape the website’s sitemap

If a website has a sitemap (which all websites should), you can easily scrape this and find what pages a website has. 

I’ve used this to see a competitor’s landing pages and blog content. I’ve also used this to see their site structure. 

To find a sitemap, just search put one of the following behind the domain name:

  • /sitemap
  • /sitemap.xml
  • Sitemap_index.xml

So for example, domainname.com/sitemap.xml

Sitemap example

Quickly export all of the internal link opportunities

Internal links are so important for SEO! I’ve increased the ranking of several pieces just by adding internal links to the page. 

A quick and easy way to find missing internal links is by doing a site search and then the keyword. 

So for example, say you want to find pages on your website that contain a certain keyword. Just put site:yourdomain.com “keyword”. 

Google or bing will then display all of the URLs that mention that keyword or something similar to it. You can then have this data exported for you to analyze even more.

Keyword research

Keyword research is such an important skill to learn. While you can use big keyword tools to help you find what keywords to target, so is everyone else.

How can you find keywords that aren’t on these tools? By finding zero searched volume keywords! Many people are too focused on search volume (the number of times a keyword is searched/ month). 

I have targeted many keywords that don’t appear on these keyword tools and have generated an increase in customer acquisitions and conversions!

Quora and Reddit are great places to find zero searched volume keywords! Search up what keyword you’re trying to target, and then scrape the questions that come up! If you notice a question is coming up multiple times, then this would be a great piece to write about! 

Find backlink opportunities

Backlinks are one of the most important factors when it comes to SEO. I’ve used web scraping in helping me find backlink opportunities!  

Remember when we scrapped quora or Reddit to find zero searched volume keywords? Well, now you can answer those questions with the content you’ve created! These backlinks will be no-follow, but they are still links that get crawled and can bring users to your website. 

You can also find guest blog posts to write for. Simply put: 

intitle: “write for us” 

and then scrape the SERP results that come up. Now you’ll have 100s of guest blog post opportunities all on a spreadsheet!

Closing Thoughts

So there you have it, five ways to use web scraping for your SEO strategy. While we’ve only scratched the surface of what’s possible with this powerful tool, these examples should give you a good starting point. 

Web scraping can help you gather data quickly and easily so that you can focus on improving your website and increasing your search engine ranking. 

Have you tried using web scraping for your SEO?