Skip to content 
In today’s data-driven world, web scraping has become an essential tool for businesses and individuals alike. However, traditional scraping methods often require coding expertise or expensive tools like SerpAPI and Perplexity. What if you could build your own web scraping system without writing a single line of code? Enter n8n and LLMs (Large Language Models)—a powerful combination that allows you to scrape data, analyze it, and generate insights effortlessly.
This guide will walk you through creating a zero-code web scraping system using n8n, a workflow automation tool, and LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT-3.5. Whether you’re looking to scrape search results, extract data from websites, or build your own alternative to tools like SerpAPI, this tutorial has you covered. Plus, we’ll integrate Gina, a cost-effective scraping tool, to make the process even smoother.
By the end of this post, you’ll have a fully functional scraping system that can replace expensive tools and give you complete control over your data extraction process. Ready to dive in? Let’s get started!
Why Build Your Own Web Scraping System?
Web scraping is a powerful way to gather data from the web, but relying on third-party tools can be costly and limiting. Tools like SerpAPI and Perplexity charge hefty fees, and their APIs often come with restrictions. By building your own system, you can:
- Save Money: Gina, the scraping tool we’ll use, is incredibly affordable, offering 1 billion tokens for just $20.
- Customize Your Workflow: Tailor your scraping process to extract exactly the data you need.
- Avoid API Limitations: Third-party APIs often have rate limits or lack flexibility. With your own system, you’re in control.
If you’re interested in exploring other AI-powered tools, check out our guide on OpenAI Orion: Navigating AI Future to see how AI is transforming various industries.
Step 1: Setting Up n8n and Gina
To get started, you’ll need to set up n8n, a no-code automation tool, and Gina, a web scraping service. Here’s how:
- Install n8n: You can run n8n locally or use their cloud version. Follow the official n8n setup guide to get started.
- Sign Up for Gina: Head over to Gina’s website and create an account. With 1 million free tokens, you can test the service before committing.
Once you’ve set up both tools, you’re ready to start building your scraping workflow.
Step 2: Building the Scraping Workflow
The core of your system will be an n8n workflow that automates the entire scraping process. Here’s a breakdown of the steps:
- Generate Search Terms: Use OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 to generate search terms based on your keyword. For example, if your keyword is “best sneakers for men in 2025,” the model will create five search queries to yield the best results.
- Scrape Search Results: Use Gina to scrape the top five results for each search term. This is done via HTTP requests in n8n.
- Extract and Summarize Data: Use n8n’s information extraction node to process the scraped data and generate a summary.
For a deeper dive into AI-powered workflows, check out our article on Microsoft Co-Pilot Studio: AI Agents Transforming Workplace.
Step 3: Customizing Your Scraping System
One of the biggest advantages of building your own system is the ability to customize it. Here are a few ways you can tailor your workflow:
- Extract Specific Data: Whether you’re looking for pricing information, sentiment analysis, or statistics, you can modify the information extraction node to focus on the data you need.
- Scrape Sitemaps: Use Gina’s sitemap scraping feature to extract URLs from a website’s sitemap. This is particularly useful for large websites with multiple pages.
- Chunk Data for LLMs: If you’re dealing with large amounts of data, you can split it into smaller chunks to avoid exceeding token limits.
For more tips on optimizing AI workflows, read our guide on How to Use NotebookLM Podcast: Beginner’s Guide 2024.
Step 4: Integrating LLMs for Data Analysis
Once you’ve scraped the data, the next step is to analyze it. This is where LLMs like OpenAI’s GPT-3.5 come in. By feeding the scraped data into the model, you can:
- Generate summaries of the top search results.
- Extract key insights, such as trends or statistics.
- Format the data into JSON for easy integration with other tools.
For example, if you’re scraping data about “best sneakers for men in 2025,” the LLM can summarize the top results, highlight key features, and even provide sentiment analysis.
To learn more about leveraging AI for content creation, check out our article on Why You Should Start Digital Content Marketing.
Step 5: Automating the Entire Process
The final step is to automate your workflow so it runs seamlessly without manual intervention. With n8n, you can:
- Schedule the workflow to run at specific intervals.
- Send the scraped data to a database or Google Sheets.
- Trigger notifications when new data is available.
By automating the process, you can focus on analyzing the data rather than managing the scraping workflow.
For more insights into automation and AI, read our guide on Bolt New Fork: Revolutionizes AI-Powered Full-Stack Development.
Conclusion: Build Your Own Scraping System Today
Building a zero-code web scraping system with n8n and LLMs is not only cost-effective but also incredibly powerful. By following this guide, you can replace expensive tools like SerpAPI and Perplexity with a custom solution that meets your specific needs.
Whether you’re scraping search results, analyzing data, or automating workflows, the possibilities are endless. And with tools like Gina and OpenAI, the process is easier than ever.
Ready to take your data extraction to the next level? Start building your own scraping system today and unlock the full potential of web data.
For more tips on leveraging AI and automation, explore our AI for Marketing category. And if you found this guide helpful, don’t forget to share it with your network!
Final Thoughts
Web scraping doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. With the right tools and a bit of creativity, you can build a system that works for you. So why wait? Start experimenting with n8n, Gina, and LLMs today, and see how far you can go!
For more insights into AI and automation, check out our article on Anthropic Computer Use Demo: Claude AI Beginner’s Guide.
Happy scraping!
