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Lead Generation with AI Web Scraping: Extract Contacts at Scale
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Lead Generation with AI Web Scraping: Extract Contacts at Scale

Author 1

Marco Vinciguerra

Lead generation fuels business growth. Period. But the traditional approach, manually hunting for prospects, copying contact info, building spreadsheets, is a colossal waste of time. AI-powered web scraping obliterates that bottleneck.

The Challenge of Modern Lead Generation

Traditional methods drain resources and deliver diminishing returns:

  • Manual research burns hours per prospect
  • Purchased lead lists arrive stale and riddled with errors
  • LinkedIn limits throttle your profile views
  • Data entry mistakes poison your CRM

An intelligent lead generation tool extracts accurate contact data at scale, feeding your sales team a steady stream of qualified prospects without the grunt work.

How ScrapeGraphAI Transforms Lead Generation

ScrapeGraphAI's AI comprehends page context, making it ideal for pulling business data from any source: company websites, directories, social profiles, you name it.

Extract Company Information

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
# Initialize the client with your API key
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# SmartScraper request to extract company details
response = client.smartscraper(
    website_url="https://www.hubspot.com/company/about",
user_prompt = (
        "Extract company name, description, industry, headquarters location, employee
            count, founded year, and all contact information including email, phone, and
             social media links"
    )
)
 
print("Result:", response)
 
 

Example Output:

{
  "company_name": "HubSpot",
  "description": "HubSpot is a CRM platform that helps companies grow better",
  "industry": "Software / SaaS",
  "headquarters": "Cambridge, Massachusetts",
  "employee_count": "7,000+",
  "founded_year": "2006",
  "social_media": {
    "linkedin": "https://linkedin.com/company/hubspot",
    "twitter": "https://twitter.com/HubSpot"
  }
}

Structured Lead Data with Schemas

For reliable CRM imports, use Pydantic (Python) or Zod (JavaScript) schemas to enforce consistent data structures:

from scrapegraph_py import Client
from pydantic import BaseModel, Field
from typing import Optional, List
 
class SocialLinks(BaseModel):
    linkedin: Optional[str] = Field(description="LinkedIn company URL")
    twitter: Optional[str] = Field(description="Twitter/X profile URL")
    facebook: Optional[str] = Field(description="Facebook page URL")
 
class CompanyLead(BaseModel):
    company_name: str = Field(description="Official company name")
    website: Optional[str] = Field(description="Company website URL")
    description: str = Field(description="What the company does")
    industry: str = Field(description="Primary industry")
    headquarters: str = Field(description="HQ city and state/country")
    employee_count: Optional[str] = Field(description="Approximate employee count")
    founded_year: Optional[str] = Field(description="Year founded")
    contact_email: Optional[str] = Field(description="General contact email")
    phone: Optional[str] = Field(description="Main phone number")
    social_media: Optional[SocialLinks] = Field(description="Social media profiles")
 
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
response = client.smartscraper(
    website_url="https://www.hubspot.com/company/about",
    user_prompt="Extract complete company information for lead generation",
    output_schema=CompanyLead
)
 
lead = CompanyLead(**response["result"])
print(f"Found: {lead.company_name} in {lead.industry}")

Schemas guarantee every lead has the same fields, making CRM imports bulletproof.

Search for Leads by Industry

SearchScraper hunts down companies in specific verticals:

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
# Initialize the client
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# SearchScraper request to find companies
response = client.searchscraper(
    user_prompt="Find B2B SaaS companies in New York with 50-200 employees, extract
        company name, website, and description",
    num_results=10
)
 
print("Result:", response)
 

Build Lead Lists from Directories

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
# Extract multiple businesses from a directory page
response = client.smartscraper(
    website_url="https://clutch.co/agencies/digital-marketing/new-york",
user_prompt = (
        "Extract all businesses listed: company name, phone number, address, website
            URL, rating, and number of reviews"
    )
)
 
print("Result:", response)
 
 

Building a Complete Lead Generation System

Step 1: Define Your Ideal Customer Profile

Know exactly who you want before scraping anything:

target_criteria = {
    "industries": ["SaaS", "Marketing Agency", "E-commerce"],
    "company_size": "10-500 employees",
    "locations": ["United States", "United Kingdom", "Canada"],
    "technologies": ["Salesforce", "HubSpot", "Shopify"]
}

Step 2: Identify Data Sources

Different sources serve different purposes:

data_sources = {
    "company_directories": [
        "https://www.crunchbase.com/",
        "https://www.g2.com/",
        "https://clutch.co/"
    ],
    "job_boards": [
        "https://www.indeed.com/",
        "https://www.linkedin.com/jobs/"
    ],
    "industry_lists": [
        "https://www.inc.com/inc5000",
        "https://www.forbes.com/lists/"
    ]
}

Step 3: Extract and Enrich Data

from scrapegraph_py import Client
 
client = Client(api_key="your-api-key-here")
 
def extract_company_leads(directory_url):
    # First, get list of companies
    companies = client.smartscraper(
        website_url=directory_url,
        user_prompt="Extract all company names and their profile URLs from this page"
    )
 
    leads = []
 
    # Then enrich each company
    for company in companies.get("companies", []):
        if company.get("profile_url"):
            details = client.smartscraper(
                website_url=company["profile_url"],
                user_prompt="""Extract:
                - Company name
                - Website URL
                - Description
                - Industry
                - Employee count
                - Headquarters location
                - Founded year
                - Key executives with their titles
                - Contact email
                - Phone number
                - Social media profiles
                """
            )
            leads.append(details)
 
    return leads

Step 4: Find Decision Makers

def find_decision_makers(company_website):
    # Look for team/about pages
    response = client.smartscraper(
        website_url=f"{company_website}/about",
        user_prompt="""Find all team members, especially:
        - CEO, Founder, Owner
        - VP of Sales, Sales Director
        - VP of Marketing, CMO
        - CTO, VP of Engineering
 
        Extract their names, titles, and any contact information or LinkedIn profiles"""
    )
 
    return response

Business Directories

  • Crunchbase - Startup and company intel
  • G2 - Software companies with user reviews
  • Clutch - B2B service provider profiles
  • Yellow Pages - Local business listings

Professional Networks

  • Company websites - Team pages and about sections
  • Industry associations - Member directories
  • Conference attendee lists - Event websites

Job Postings (Buying Signals)

  • Companies hiring equals companies expanding equals potential customers
  • Job descriptions expose technology stacks and pain points

For broader competitive intelligence, check out our market research dashboard guide.

Data Points to Extract

For B2B lead generation, capture these essentials:

Data Point Why It Matters
Company Name Basic identification
Website Research and outreach
Industry Relevance scoring
Employee Count Company size qualification
Location Territory assignment
Decision Maker Names Personalized outreach
Email Addresses Direct contact
Phone Numbers Sales calls
Technologies Used Solution fit
Recent News Conversation starters

Best Practices for Lead Generation Scraping

1. Quality Over Quantity

100 thoroughly researched leads crush 10,000 random contacts. Leverage AI to extract rich, actionable data, not just email addresses.

2. Verify Email Addresses

Always verify scraped emails before outreach. Your sender reputation depends on it.

3. Respect Privacy

Comply with GDPR and relevant regulations. Target business contact information, not personal data.

4. Keep Data Fresh

Contact information decays fast. Schedule regular updates to maintain database accuracy.

5. Enrich Continuously

Start with fundamentals, then layer additional intelligence as leads advance through your pipeline.

Integration with Your Sales Stack

Export leads directly to your CRM:

import csv
 
def export_to_csv(leads, filename="leads.csv"):
    if not leads:
        return
 
    keys = leads[0].keys()
 
    with open(filename, 'w', newline='') as f:
        writer = csv.DictWriter(f, fieldnames=keys)
        writer.writeheader()
        writer.writerows(leads)
 
# Export for CRM import
export_to_csv(leads, "new_leads.csv")

Get Started Today

Stop hemorrhaging hours on manual lead research. ScrapeGraphAI's AI-powered extraction delivers accurate, enriched lead data at scale, giving your sales team an unfair advantage.

Ready to supercharge your lead generation? Sign up for ScrapeGraphAI and build your lead generation engine today. The free tier lets you extract thousands of data points to validate the approach before scaling.

Give your AI Agent superpowers with lightning-fast web data!