9 guides

Lead Scraping: Sources, Limits and the Legal Line

What each public source can supply, where collection stops being defensible, and why a scraped record is a starting point rather than a contact.

Scraping is a discovery method, not a contact method. It answers which companies exist and what they publish, and it almost never answers who to write to at any of them.

The legal position in the US turns on one distinction: collecting public pages while logged out is defensible under the hiQ line of cases, while creating an account and collecting against its accepted terms is a contract question with a different answer.

These guides cover the sources worth using, the filters that separate trading businesses from abandoned listings, and the step that always follows: resolving a named person and verifying the address before anything is sent.

Every guide in this cluster

Read the legality guide first. The source-specific guides assume you know where the line sits.

Finding Shopify Stores at Scale: Detection, Counts and What Is Actually SellableShopify stores are detectable from page source, but live counts differ by millions. How to build a list that excludes the dead ones and reaches an owner. 11 min readYelp as a Lead Source: What It Is Good For and Where It EndsYelp lists local businesses with categories and reviews but almost no email. What it can and cannot supply, and the legal line around collection. 11 min readIs Scraping B2B Data Legal? The Three Lines That Actually MatterPublic data, terms of service and personal data are three separate questions. What courts settled, what they did not, and where the risk sits. 9 min readJob Postings as a Lead Source: The Signal Hiding in Plain SightA job posting is a dated, public statement of intent. What to extract, how to turn it into a targeting signal, and how to write to it well. 9 min readBusiness Directories as a Lead Source: What They Are Good ForDirectories give you companies, not people. What they cover well, why the contact data is weakest there, and how to turn a listing into a usable lead. 9 min readSales Navigator Lists: Getting the Filters Out Without Risking the AccountSales Navigator has the best B2B filters and no emails. How to use it for targeting, why automation risks the account, and the safer path to contacts. 9 min readScraping vs Buying B2B Data: A Cost and Risk ComparisonScraping looks free and buying looks expensive. The real comparison includes verification, maintenance and risk, which changes the answer for most teams. 9 min readHow to Scrape Data from Google Maps (3 Methods Compared)Three ways to scrape data from Google Maps compared: the official Places API, DIY web scraping and no-code scrapers, with costs, limits and legality explained. 8 min readHow to Scrape Leads from LinkedIn in 2026 (Step-by-Step)A practical guide to scraping B2B leads from LinkedIn in 2026: what works, what gets you banned, and how to get verified emails from profiles at scale. 9 min read

Frequently asked

Is scraping public business data legal?

In the US, collecting publicly accessible pages while logged out is the defensible position, and the hiQ holding that this does not violate the federal computer access statute is reported as still standing. Terms of service, unfair competition and privacy claims are separate exposures.

Why are scraped contacts lower quality?

Because directory and storefront pages list role addresses and are updated rarely. In our verification of 383,368 raw B2B addresses, 23.9% were invalid, and stale scraped records are a reliable contributor to that share.

Should I scrape or buy data?

Scrape when the signal is public, dated and specific, such as a job posting or a technology detection. Buy when you need contact coverage at scale, because resolving and verifying millions of records is the expensive part, not finding company names.

Other guides

DeliverabilityEmail VerificationFinding EmailsB2B Data OpsTool PricingOutbound StrategyIndustry PlaybooksDefinitions

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