Datasources

The Datasource is the second component of your Workflow. This is where you can list all the websites that you want to collect data from.

For each website you want to include, simply fill in the Name field with the name of the website and the URL field with the website address.

Scenario:

Looking for information about restaurants in Edinburgh from a set of tourist websites.

Datasources:

Name:
Food in Edinburg URL:
https://www.foodinedinburg.com
Name:
Foodie Traveller
URL:
https://foodytraveller.com
Name:
Food4Fun
URL:
https://www.food4fun.com

When to Use Specific Page URLs vs Root URLs?

Specific page URLs should be used only if you would like to start crawling a website from a specific point rather than just the home page.
Root URLs should be used in every other circumstance

Helpful Tip
The root URL of a website starts with https:// and includes everything before the next /.
For example, ApeScrape’s root URL is:
https://apescrape.com/

To quickly add Datasources through CSV import, choose the Import button located on the Datasource Creation Screen.

Image showing the exact location of the import CSV button

Helpful Tip
Once your Datasource is created, you can select it again when making new Workflows to get up and running even quicker—perfect if you’re collecting from the same websites repeatedly.