How to Automate Web Scraping with Make.com and Browse AI in 3 Simple Steps
Most businesses waste hours manually copying data from websites - product details, contact information, or competitor pricing. This Make.com automation extracts HTML content from any URL automatically, handles formatting errors, and logs everything to Google Sheets. Set it up once and never copy-paste website data again.
The Manual Data Problem
Businesses constantly need to extract information from websites - product specs from suppliers, contact details from directories, or pricing from competitors. The traditional approach involves tedious manual copying, pasting, and reformatting that wastes hours each week.
At 2:15 in the tutorial, we see the core frustration: even simple web scraping fails when URLs aren't perfectly formatted. The automation initially errors out because Browse AI requires http:// or https:// prefixes, which many user-submitted URLs lack.
68% of business data collection tasks involve copying information from websites according to recent surveys. Yet most teams still do this manually because they assume automation is too technical or unreliable.
Browse AI Setup in 5 Minutes
Browse AI solves the web scraping complexity with prebuilt robots that require zero coding. Instead of building from scratch, we use their "Extract HTML Code" robot that works for any webpage.
The setup process is remarkably simple:
- Sign up for a free Browse AI account
- Navigate to browse.ai/prebuilt-robots
- Search for and select the "Extract HTML Code" robot
- Enter a test URL to verify the setup
This robot becomes your reusable web scraping tool - it captures the complete HTML from any page you specify, ready for processing in Make.com.
Building the Make.com Automation
The real power comes when we connect Browse AI to Make.com. This creates a complete system that:
- Accepts URLs from forms, emails, or other sources
- Determines if the URL is properly formatted
- Routes it through the correct scraping path
- Logs the results systematically
The workflow uses Make.com's router to create two paths - one for properly formatted URLs (with http/https) and another for unformatted URLs that need correction. This decision logic happens automatically for every submission.
Smart URL Formatting Solution
At 4:30 in the video, we encounter the key innovation - automatic URL formatting. When the workflow detects a URL missing the http:// prefix, it dynamically adds it before sending to Browse AI.
This solves one of the most common web scraping failures with an elegant fix:
The automation adds "http://" to any incoming URL that lacks it, while leaving properly formatted URLs unchanged. This tiny adjustment makes the workflow resilient to real-world input variations.
The implementation is simple but powerful - we prepend the protocol string directly in the Make.com module configuration. This happens automatically for every URL routed through the "needs formatting" path.
Google Sheets Integration
Every scraped webpage gets logged to Google Sheets with:
- The original URL
- The Browse AI task ID
- Timestamp of when it was processed
This creates an audit trail and connects the initial scraping task with the eventual results. The Sheets integration uses simple "Update Row" and "Search Row" modules that anyone can configure without coding.
At 6:50 in the tutorial, we see how copying modules between paths saves setup time while maintaining separate data flows for formatted vs unformatted URLs.
Task Completion Handling
Web scraping isn't instantaneous - Browse AI tasks can take a minute or more to complete. The workflow handles this gracefully with a second scenario that watches for task completion.
This two-part architecture:
- Starts the scraping task (first scenario)
- Waits for completion notification (second scenario)
- Processes the results when ready
The "Watch Task Execution Finished" trigger in Make.com eliminates polling or manual checking. It automatically picks up completed tasks and processes the HTML data.
Watch the Full Tutorial
At 3:45 in the video, you'll see the exact moment where we configure the URL formatting fix that makes this automation resilient to real-world input variations. The full tutorial walks through every step with clear explanations.
Key Takeaways
This automation solves three critical problems with manual web data collection: inconsistent URL formatting, lack of systematic logging, and the time drain of manual copying.
In summary: You can extract HTML from any webpage automatically by combining Browse AI's scraping power with Make.com's workflow automation. The system handles URL variations gracefully and logs everything to Google Sheets for easy reference.
Frequently Asked Questions
Common questions about this topic
Browse AI is a web scraping tool that extracts HTML content from any webpage. When integrated with Make.com, it allows you to automate data collection workflows.
The combination lets you automatically scrape websites, process the data, and send it to other apps like Google Sheets without manual intervention.
- No coding required for basic scraping
- Handles JavaScript-rendered pages
- Works with Make.com's visual workflow builder
The workflow includes smart URL formatting that automatically adds http:// or https:// prefixes when they're missing. This solves a common problem where web scraping fails due to simple URL formatting issues.
The system checks each URL and routes it through the correct processing path based on its format.
- Automatically fixes missing protocols
- Handles both formatted and unformatted URLs
- Logs all variations systematically
You can extract any HTML content visible on a webpage - product details, pricing information, contact details, article text, or structured data.
The prebuilt Browse AI robot used in this workflow captures the entire HTML code, which you can then parse for specific elements in subsequent Make.com modules.
- Full page HTML by default
- Can be configured for specific elements
- Works with dynamic JavaScript content
The complete setup takes about 15-20 minutes following the tutorial. The workflow involves three main components: configuring Browse AI, setting up the Make.com automation with URL validation, and connecting to Google Sheets for data logging.
Once configured, it runs automatically whenever new URLs are submitted.
- No ongoing maintenance needed
- Scales to handle any volume
- Processes URLs as they arrive
Yes, the workflow can process multiple URLs simultaneously. Each URL goes through the same validation and scraping process independently.
The Google Sheets integration automatically logs which data came from which URL, making it easy to track multiple sources in a single spreadsheet.
- Handles concurrent scraping tasks
- Maintains source attribution
- Organizes data systematically
Since this workflow captures the full HTML code, it's resilient to minor website changes. For major structural changes, you might need to adjust how you parse the HTML in Make.com.
The Browse AI robot will continue capturing the HTML regardless of layout changes.
- Automatically adapts to minor changes
- Only major redesigns require updates
- HTML parsing can be adjusted separately
Browse AI's free plan includes 50 tasks per month, with paid plans offering more. Each webpage you scrape counts as one task.
The Make.com automation can handle any volume within your Browse AI plan limits, automatically queuing and processing URLs as they come in.
- Free plan: 50 pages/month
- Paid plans start at 300 pages/month
- No limit from Make.com side
GrowwStacks specializes in building custom web scraping automations tailored to your specific data needs. We can create workflows that not only extract data but also process, analyze, and route it to your CRM, database, or other business systems.
Our team handles everything from initial setup to ongoing maintenance, freeing you to focus on using the data rather than collecting it.
- Custom automation design
- End-to-end implementation
- Ongoing support and optimization
Stop Wasting Time on Manual Web Scraping
Every hour your team spends copying website data is an hour lost to low-value work. Let GrowwStacks build you a custom web scraping automation that extracts, processes, and organizes data automatically.