Crawl Competitor's Website Even When Screaming Frog is Blocked

Simple Trick to Crawl Competitor’s Site with Screaming Frog (Even If Blocked)

Running a website crawl is important for SEO. It helps you understand a site's structure, content, and performance. Screaming Frog is a popular tool for this, but what if your competitor blocks the Screaming Frog bot? Don’t worry, there's a simple way around this. Here’s how you can still crawl the site without any trouble.

1. Why Websites Block Crawlers

Some websites don’t want specific tools, like Screaming Frog, to crawl them. They may block these crawlers for security, performance, or simply to stop competitors from checking their data. While they might block Screaming Frog, they usually still allow bots like Googlebot to crawl their site.

If your Screaming Frog crawl is being blocked, you can use a simple trick: switch the User-Agent.

2. What is a User-Agent?

A User-Agent is like an ID. When you visit a website, your browser tells the site who you are through the User-Agent. Websites use this to know whether you're using Chrome, Firefox, or a bot like Googlebot or Screaming Frog.

When a website blocks Screaming Frog, it's blocking that specific User-Agent. But you can easily change it to something else and bypass the block.

3. How to Change the User-Agent in Screaming Frog

Here are the steps to change the User-Agent in Screaming Frog:

  • Step 1: Open Screaming Frog on your computer.
  • Step 2: Go to the top menu and click on Configuration. Then, select User-Agent from the dropdown.
  • Step 3: Choose a new User-Agent. You can pick Googlebot Mobile, Googlebot Desktop, or even a browser like Chrome.
  • Step 4: Start the crawl again. If it still doesn’t work, try a different User-Agent until you can crawl the site.


Switching the User-Agent can help Screaming Frog bypass the website’s block, as many websites allow Googlebot or browser agents without any issues.

4. Why Does This Work?

Most websites want to allow legitimate bots like Googlebot to crawl their site, even if they block other tools. By changing the User-Agent in Screaming Frog, you're pretending to be Googlebot or a browser. This way, the site doesn’t block you and the crawl can continue smoothly.

5. When to Use This Trick

This method works well when you need quick data from a competitor’s site, but if you’re regularly working on a website, it’s better to request access or get your IP address whitelisted. This will ensure long-term access without needing to change the User-Agent every time.

6. Some Extra Tips

  • Use Googlebot Wisely: Don’t overuse the Googlebot User-Agent. Websites care about their relationship with Google, and spamming Googlebot can cause problems.

  • Crawl Slowly: To avoid putting too much load on the website, you can slow down the crawl speed in Screaming Frog by going to Configuration > Speed.

  • Be Ethical: Always follow ethical SEO practices. If a site doesn’t want to be crawled, try reaching out to the website owners instead of finding ways around their restrictions.

Conclusion

If you’re having trouble crawling a competitor's website using Screaming Frog, switching the User-Agent can help you get around the block. This is a quick and easy way to get the data you need without involving IT or waiting for access.

However, remember to always crawl responsibly and use this technique only when necessary. Following these steps will make sure you stay within the rules while gathering useful SEO data.

Location: India

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