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Email scraping is the automated process of extracting email addresses from websites, documents, social media, and other online sources. Scraping tools crawl web pages and parse content to identify email patterns, building contact lists for marketing or outreach purposes. While email scraping can rapidly build large prospect databases, the quality and compliance of scraped data requires careful verification.
Email scraping accelerates lead generation by automating what would otherwise be hours of manual research. For B2B sales teams and marketers, scraped email lists provide a starting point for outreach campaigns. However, scraped data comes with significant risks: many addresses are outdated, protected by anti-scraping measures, or belong to people who never consented to contact. Without proper verification, scraped lists lead to high bounce rates, spam complaints, and damaged sender reputation.
Email scraping software uses web crawlers to visit websites and scan HTML content for email patterns (text matching the format name@domain.com). Advanced scrapers can extract emails from JavaScript-rendered pages, PDFs, and social media profiles. The process typically involves defining target sources, running the scraper to collect addresses, deduplicating results, and exporting to CSV or CRM systems. Some tools also extract associated data like names, job titles, and company information.
Email scraping legality varies by jurisdiction and how the data is used. Scraping publicly available data is generally legal, but using scraped emails for marketing may violate GDPR, CAN-SPAM, or other regulations. The hiQ Labs v. LinkedIn case established that scraping public data isn't a CFAA violation, but you must still comply with privacy laws when contacting scraped addresses.
Scraped emails have high invalid rates because websites contain outdated information, typos, and fake addresses. Sending to unverified scraped lists typically results in 20-40% bounce rates, which damages sender reputation and can get your domain blacklisted. Email verification removes invalid addresses before you send.
The terms are often used interchangeably, but email harvesting typically implies collecting addresses specifically for spam or unsolicited bulk email. Email scraping is a more neutral term describing the technical process of extracting addresses, regardless of intended use.
Run all scraped addresses through an email verification service to remove invalid, disposable, and risky addresses. Filter out role-based emails and catch-all domains that have lower engagement rates. Cross-reference with other data sources to confirm accuracy, and segment by recency and source quality.
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