In Screaming Frog, specifying a range of URLs to log involves using the tool’s configuration and filtering options effectively. Here’s a detailed guide to help you set it up:
Initial Setup: First, ensure you have Screaming Frog SEO Spider installed and open. Begin a new project for the website you’re interested in by entering its URL in the “Enter URL to Spider” field.
Configuration Settings: Before starting the crawl, go to ‘Configuration’ in the top menu. Here, you can tweak various settings such as the number of threads for the crawl, user-agent strings, and more, depending on your particular requirements.
Include/Exclude Filters: To target a specific range of URLs, you can use the ‘Include’ and ‘Exclude’ filter settings. Navigate to ‘Configuration’ > ‘Spider’ > ‘Include’ tab. Here, you can add regular expressions (regex) or specific patterns to target a particular range of URLs. For example, to log only URLs that start with a specific path, you might enter something like ^/section/.*$. Conversely, you can use the ‘Exclude’ tab to remove unwanted URLs from your crawl.
Custom Extraction and Logging: If you need to log specific data from these URLs, visit ‘Configuration’ > ‘Custom’ > ‘Extraction’. Here, you can set up custom extractions using XPath, CSSPath, or regex if there are particular data points you want to extract from these URLs.
Executing the Crawl: Once your filters and settings are configured, run the crawler. Screaming Frog will adhere to your configurations and only log data for the URLs that match your specified criteria.
Exporting the Data: After the crawl, you can export the data by navigating to the top menu and selecting ‘File’ > ‘Export’. You can customize which data to include in the export file according to your needs.
By using these steps, you can efficiently manage and log only the specific range of URLs you’re interested in with Screaming Frog, optimizing the crawl for your particular SEO analysis needs.
One response to “Setting URL Range to Log in Screaming Frog”
This is an incredibly helpful guide for anyone looking to streamline their crawling process in Screaming Frog! One additional tip I’d like to add is to consider testing your include and exclude filters using the “Test” function available in the configuration settings. This can save you valuable time and ensure your regex patterns are correctly identifying the desired URLs before you initiate a full crawl.
Also, remember that creating a structured approach to filtering can enhance your data analysis significantly. For example, if you’re focusing on a specific section of a site, you could combine include filters with custom extraction settings to pull relevant metadata or performance data for those URLs. This way, not only do you get precise logs, but you also gather actionable insights that can guide your SEO strategies more effectively.
Lastly, keeping your Screaming Frog updated is crucial as newer versions often come with enhancements and additional features that can make your crawling and logging processes even smoother. Happy crawling!