Intermediate4 steps

How to Scrape Product Reviews

Product reviews are spread across paginated review sections, often loaded lazily or hidden behind "Show more" interactions. Collecting a complete review dataset requires handling JavaScript rendering, pagination, and possibly scroll-triggered loading.

Step-by-Step Guide

1

Find the review section URL pattern

Many sites load reviews on a separate paginated URL (e.g., /product/123/reviews?page=2) or via a dedicated API endpoint visible in browser DevTools Network tab.

2

Fetch reviews with JavaScript rendering

Send the review page URL to AlterLab with render_js enabled to ensure lazy-loaded review content is included in the response.

3

Extract review metadata

Parse each review for: rating (numeric), review text, reviewer name, date, and verified purchase status when available.

4

Paginate through all reviews

Follow the review pagination to collect all available reviews. Sort by 'most recent' to prioritize fresh data.

Code Example

PythonGet free API key →
import requests
from bs4 import BeautifulSoup

def scrape_reviews(product_url: str, api_key: str) -> list[dict]:
    response = requests.post(
        "https://alterlab.io/api/v1/scrape",
        headers={"X-API-Key": api_key, "Content-Type": "application/json"},
        json={"url": product_url, "render_js": True},
    )
    html = response.json().get("html", "")
    soup = BeautifulSoup(html, "html.parser")

    reviews = []
    for review in soup.select(".review-item"):
        reviews.append({
            "rating": review.select_one("[data-rating]")?.get("data-rating"),
            "text": review.select_one(".review-body")?.get_text(strip=True),
            "author": review.select_one(".reviewer-name")?.get_text(strip=True),
            "date": review.select_one("time")?.get("datetime"),
        })
    return reviews

Replace YOUR_API_KEY with your key from the dashboard. No credit card required.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Responsible Use

AlterLab is designed for extracting publicly available data. Always review the terms of service for any website you access, respect robots.txt directives, and ensure your use case complies with applicable laws in your jurisdiction.

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terminal
curl -X POST https://api.alterlab.io/v1/scrape \
-H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"url": "https://example.com", "formats": ["markdown"]}'

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    How to Scrape Product Reviews at Scale | AlterLab | AlterLab