Web mining

Web mining definition

Web mining is the process of extracting patterns, information, and knowledge from web sources, using various data mining techniques and algorithms.

See also: data mining, text data mining, data analytics, government surveillance, social profiling, digital identity

Scope of web mining

• Web content mining. Analyzes the content of web resources, including text, images, and multimedia.
• Web structure mining. Web mining is a type of data mining focused on extracting patterns and insights from the World Wide Web.
• Web usage mining. Studies user activity and behavior, such as browsing habits and interactions with websites.

Web mining techniques,

• Keyword-based and topic-based analysis. Helps in information retrieval and topic discovery from web content.
• Link analysis. Algorithms like PageRank and HITS assess the importance and quality of web pages based on their link structure.
• Pattern tracking. Identifies common browsing patterns and sequences using clustering and classification.
• User profiling. Creates profiles of users based on their activities and preferences to understand their behavior.
• Association rule mining. Discovers interesting relations between web pages visited in a session.

Uses of web mining

• Search engine optimization (SEO). Helps websites rank higher on search engines by understanding content and link importance.
• Recommendation systems. Suggest products, articles, or other web pages based on user behavior and preferences.
• User behavior analysis. Helps businesses understand user activity, leading to better site design and user experience.
• Advertising. Personalizes ads shown to users based on their browsing habits and interests.
• Fraud detection and prevention. Identifies unusual patterns which might indicate malicious activity or attacks.