What is JSON?
JSON (JavaScript Object Notation) is a lightweight data format that organizes information into key-value pairs. When you're scraping websites, JSON is your best friend because it gives you clean, structured data without forcing you to dig through messy HTML tags.
Think of JSON as a filing cabinet where everything has its place. Instead of sifting through paragraphs of text and HTML elements, you get data handed to you in an organized package that's ready to use.
How JSON is structured
JSON uses a simple format with curly braces, square brackets, and key-value pairs. Here's what a basic JSON object looks like:
{ "product": "Running Shoes", "price": 89.99, "in_stock": true }
The structure is predictable. Keys are always strings (like "product" or "price"), and values can be strings, numbers, booleans, arrays, or even nested objects. This consistency makes parsing straightforward and reliable.
Where you'll find JSON when scraping
You'll encounter JSON in two main places during web scraping:
API endpoints: Many websites offer APIs that return JSON directly. You send a request to a URL, and you get back a JSON response with the data you need. This is the cleanest way to scrape because the website has already packaged the data for you. Modern APIs from e-commerce sites, social media platforms, and weather services almost always return JSON instead of XML.
Embedded in HTML pages: Developers often hide JSON data inside HTML pages for their JavaScript code to use. You'll find it in script tags (especially those marked as "application/ld+json") or as JavaScript objects like window.__INITIAL_STATE__. This embedded JSON contains the same data that appears on the page but in a much easier format to extract.
Why JSON makes scraping easier
When you scrape JSON instead of HTML, you skip the hardest parts of web scraping. You don't need to navigate complex DOM structures, worry about changing CSS selectors, or deal with nested div tags.
Parsing speed is another big win. JSON parsers work faster than HTML parsers because the data structure is simpler. Your code can convert JSON to a usable format in milliseconds.
JSON is also lightweight. Requesting a JSON endpoint uses less bandwidth than loading a full webpage with images, CSS, and JavaScript. This means faster scraping and lower costs when you're processing millions of pages.
How to scrape JSON data
The basic workflow is straightforward. You send an HTTP request to an API or webpage, receive the JSON response, parse it into a data structure your programming language understands, and then extract what you need.
Most programming languages have built-in JSON support. In Python, you can use the requests library to fetch data and the json library to parse it. The entire process takes just a few lines of code.
For embedded JSON in HTML, you first grab the page source, find the script tag containing JSON, extract the JSON string, and then parse it. This still beats parsing the entire HTML structure.
JSON versus other data formats
JSON has replaced XML in most modern APIs because it's less verbose and easier to read. While XML uses opening and closing tags that add bulk, JSON keeps things minimal.
Compared to CSV, JSON handles complex, nested data better. CSV works great for flat tables with rows and columns, but JSON can represent hierarchical relationships. If you're scraping product data with multiple images, reviews, and specifications, JSON keeps these relationships intact while CSV would require multiple files or complicated workarounds.
HTML is where your data lives on web pages, but it mixes content with presentation code. JSON separates data from presentation, giving you exactly what you need without the formatting noise.
Practical tips for working with JSON
When you're hitting JSON APIs, set your request headers to indicate you want JSON responses. Include "Accept: application/json" in your headers to tell the server what format you prefer.
Check API documentation first. Many websites have public or semi-public APIs that return JSON. These are more reliable than scraping HTML because the data structure is guaranteed by the API contract.
Look for JSON-LD in web pages. This structured data format appears in script tags and contains rich information about products, articles, events, and more. Search engines use it, and you can too.
Save your scraped data as JSON if you need to preserve its structure. This keeps nested relationships intact and makes it easy to load the data back into your applications later.
How Browse AI handles JSON scraping
Browse AI automatically detects and extracts JSON data from websites, whether it's coming from APIs or embedded in HTML pages. You don't need to write parsing code or figure out where the JSON is hiding. The platform handles the technical details while you focus on what data you need. Browse AI's no-code interface means you can set up JSON scraping tasks in minutes instead of hours of development work.
