Scraping IG links from google sheets does not get all the data and mismatch in rows

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Hey Bardeen tribe,

I am trying to parse a list of IG links from a google sheet via the Bardeen Instagram scraper (and also my own) to enrich the rows with data like: posts, followers, following.

Watched and tried this video:

How to scrape Instagram followers (without code)

Scraping from an active tab works for me.

Next was this video:

How To Scrape ANYTHING Directly From Google Sheets

Tried a google sheet with linkedin links, that also works.

Now I tried it with IG links: [Bardeen IG Testing]

Bardeen IG Testing

Tab Sheet “IG Profiles” is the initial table
Tab Sheet “Result after scraping” is the result.

1. I put on debugging mode for the steps of the automation, it seems like it already fails to scrape the data for posts, followers, following while scraping data in the background.

2. The second error is the mismatch of the rows. Since G.Sheet Column “Weblink” and Scrape Data “url” should be the same, meaning the url of the IG profile, I try to match this so the data lands in the corresponding row.

Any ideas why only the url is scraped in the first place and second how to match the rows?

Thanks,
Daniel

[Jess]

Hi @Hedonium.Shockwave, would you mind sharing the automation?

This will help us further assist you.

@Hedonium.Shockwave

The second error is the mismatch of the rows. Since G.Sheet Column “Weblink” and Scrape Data “url” should be the same, meaning the url of the IG profile, I try to match this so the data lands in the corresponding row.

See this article to better understand how this works:

How to use Update Google Sheet rows

First, let’s start with clarifying the difference between “Update Google Sheet rows” and “Update Google Sheet tab rows” Update Google Sheet rows - This action will update rows in a Google Sheet without requiring you to select a specific tab. It will always target the sheet tab that is in the first position. If you move the sheet tab away from that position, you may encounter an error when running your automation. This option is ideal for single-tab sheets or when you want the output to go to a …

Thank you,
Jess

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Hi @Jess, sure thing:

{{playbook_title}}

Thanks,
Daniel

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Thanks also for the article @Jess.

I recognized that I only have the option “Update Google Sheet rows” … see screenshot.

[Jess]

Yep, it’s the same thing

[Jess]

@Hedonium.Shockwave, I’m unable to test the automation as the GSheet isn’t public. However, I see three problems in final action of the playbook here:

1. Your mapped the “IG Profiles” tab to update GSheet rows, but it should be the “Results after scraping” tab rather.
   
   

---

2. Search rows by Column is mapped wrong:
   
   

• This “Search rows by Column” means we need to select a Column inside of the GSheet in the “Results after scraping” tab so it should be mapped to just “Weblink” like this:
  
  

---

3. After making these changes, you’ll need to remap to the rest of the columns like so:
   
   

Here’s the updated automation:
Shared Playbook Template

• Again, I was unable to test on my end as the Gsheet is view only.

I hope this helps!
Thank you,
Jess

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Great @Jess, gonna check that out!

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Alright, we are one step closer.

The rows are matching now.
And then I realized, I was using the pure vpn chrome extension, now it parsed at least one IG profiles completely … any known chrome extensions that cause trouble with Bardeen?

You have also full access to the g.sheet.

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Also just saw you @Jess posted an updated version of the automation – tried it out, kind of same result, just parsed mrbeast posts, followers & url.

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Okay, switched to the Bardeen IG profile scraper in this version:

{{playbook_title}}

Result:

The error is kind of random, I feel scraping in the background is colliding with a chrome extension or something …

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

Okay, deactivated all Chrome extension with only Bardeen running, but the problem persists @Jess, so seems the problem is elsewhere.

[vin_bardeen]

Hey @Hedonium.Shockwave ,

I noticed that you don’t have a custom delay set in your background scraper. We usually advise to put a 3-5 second delay so that the page can load before the scraping starts. Not setting a custom delay is one of the reasons why a scraper runs but doesn’t have any results (apart from the URL)

Let me know how you get along with that.

[Hedonium.Shockwave]

THERE WE GO @vin_bardeen
6 seconds delay made the trick!

Thank you both of you @Jess + @vin_bardeen