Browser automation replicates actions on web browsers to effectively replace manual human labor. With bots doing the work of humans, you can bet on reduced effort, guaranteed efficiency, and speed that manual work couldn’t deliver.
Browser automation tools work by implementing a Robotic Process Automation (RPA) technology. This is when the automation software records the user’s actions in the graphical user interface (GUI) of a browser, website, or web application and saves the action list. The automation program then executes the listed actions by injecting JavaScript into the targeted web page. As a result, the automation tool is able to repeat the actions directly in the GUI.
In the most abstract sense, browser automation:
Repetitive tasks you do on a browser, be it clicking or typing, can also be done by a bot. For example, you can automate browser and web page interactions, logins to websites, and data inputting to HTML forms.
In essence, browser automation allows re-enacting routine tasks that don’t require different navigation routes or different information to be entered each time. Solutions like AdsPower are the most convenient for this type of browser automation, as the user requires no programming knowledge.
“Repetitive tasks you do on a browser, be it clicking or typing, can also be done by a bot”
While there are web scrapers designed explicitly for data extraction, browser automation is a simple yet effective method to gather public data. Companies scrape information from search engines and various websites, such as e-commerce sites, to analyze results later and gain insights.
Another significant usage of browser automation is to verify broken hyperlinks on websites. When a link doesn’t route to the desired site or returns the 404: Page not found error message—it’s rendered useless as it brings no value and wastes potential user traffic.
If you own a sizable website or web application, it’s favorable to employ bots to verify hyperlinks on a large scale. This way, you’ll confirm the quality of content while also saving time.