Web scraping is the automated process of extracting data from websites. It involves using specialized software or scripts to retrieve and parse web content, allowing users to collect information efficiently. This technique is widely used for various applications, such as data analysis, market research, and competitive intelligence. By leveraging programming languages like Python, along with libraries such as Beautiful Soup and requests, individuals can create bots that navigate web pages, extract relevant data, and store it in structured formats like CSV or databases. Web scraping opens up opportunities for data-driven decision-making in numerous fields.