Skip to main content


Home Web mining

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.