diff --git a/apps/api/openapi.json b/apps/api/openapi.json
index d283376..17b3677 100644
--- a/apps/api/openapi.json
+++ b/apps/api/openapi.json
@@ -61,6 +61,13 @@
                         "description": "Wait x amount of milliseconds for the page to load to fetch content",
                         "default": 0
                       },
+                      "removeTags": {
+                        "type": "array",
+                        "items": {
+                          "type": "string"
+                        },
+                        "description": "Tags, classes and ids to remove from the page. Use comma separated values. Example: 'script, .ad, #footer'"
+                      },
                       "headers": {
                         "type": "object",
                         "description": "Headers to send with the request. Can be used to send cookies, user-agent, etc."
@@ -194,6 +201,11 @@
                         "type": "integer",
                         "description": "Maximum number of pages to crawl",
                         "default": 10000
+                      },
+                      "allowBackwardCrawling": {
+                        "type": "boolean",
+                        "description": "Allow backward crawling (crawl from the base URL to the previous URLs)",
+                        "default": false
                       }
                     }
                   },
@@ -219,6 +231,13 @@
                         "type": "object",
                         "description": "Headers to send with the request when scraping. Can be used to send cookies, user-agent, etc."
                       },
+                      "removeTags": {
+                        "type": "array",
+                        "items": {
+                          "type": "string"
+                        },
+                        "description": "Tags, classes and ids to remove from the page. Use comma separated values. Example: 'script, .ad, #footer'"
+                      },
                       "replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths": {
                         "type": "boolean",
                         "description": "Replace all relative paths with absolute paths for images and links",
diff --git a/apps/api/src/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts b/apps/api/src/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
index 1e1d5e3..9149c01 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/index.test.ts
@@ -143,6 +143,55 @@ describe("E2E Tests for API Routes", () => {
       expect(response.body.data.metadata.pageError).toBeUndefined();
     }, 60000); // 60 seconds
 
+    it.concurrent('should return a successful response for a valid scrape with PDF file and parsePDF set to false', async () => {
+      const response = await request(TEST_URL)
+        .post('/v0/scrape')
+        .set('Authorization', `Bearer ${process.env.TEST_API_KEY}`)
+        .set('Content-Type', 'application/json')
+        .send({ url: 'https://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/9301001.pdf', pageOptions: { parsePDF: false } });
+      await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 6000));
+
+      expect(response.statusCode).toBe(200);
+      expect(response.body).toHaveProperty('data');
+      expect(response.body.data).toHaveProperty('content');
+      expect(response.body.data).toHaveProperty('metadata');
+      expect(response.body.data.content).toContain('/Title(arXiv:astro-ph/9301001v1  7 Jan 1993)>>endobj');
+    }, 60000); // 60 seconds
+
+    it.concurrent("should return a successful response with a valid API key with removeTags option", async () => {
+      const responseWithoutRemoveTags = await request(TEST_URL)
+        .post("/v0/scrape")
+        .set("Authorization", `Bearer ${process.env.TEST_API_KEY}`)
+        .set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+        .send({ url: "https://www.scrapethissite.com/" });
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.statusCode).toBe(200);
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body).toHaveProperty("data");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data).toHaveProperty("content");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data).toHaveProperty("markdown");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data).toHaveProperty("metadata");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data).not.toHaveProperty("html");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data.content).toContain("Scrape This Site");
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data.content).toContain("Lessons and Videos"); // #footer
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data.content).toContain("[Sandbox]("); // .nav
+      expect(responseWithoutRemoveTags.body.data.content).toContain("web scraping"); // strong
+
+      const response = await request(TEST_URL)
+        .post("/v0/scrape")
+        .set("Authorization", `Bearer ${process.env.TEST_API_KEY}`)
+        .set("Content-Type", "application/json")
+        .send({ url: "https://www.scrapethissite.com/", pageOptions: { removeTags: ['.nav', '#footer', 'strong'] } });
+      expect(response.statusCode).toBe(200);
+      expect(response.body).toHaveProperty("data");
+      expect(response.body.data).toHaveProperty("content");
+      expect(response.body.data).toHaveProperty("markdown");
+      expect(response.body.data).toHaveProperty("metadata");
+      expect(response.body.data).not.toHaveProperty("html");
+      expect(response.body.data.content).toContain("Scrape This Site");
+      expect(response.body.data.content).not.toContain("Lessons and Videos"); // #footer
+      expect(response.body.data.content).not.toContain("[Sandbox]("); // .nav
+      expect(response.body.data.content).not.toContain("web scraping"); // strong
+    }, 30000); // 30 seconds timeout
+
     // TODO: add this test back once we nail the waitFor option to be more deterministic
     // it.concurrent("should return a successful response with a valid API key and waitFor option", async () => {
     //   const startTime = Date.now();
diff --git a/apps/api/src/controllers/crawl.ts b/apps/api/src/controllers/crawl.ts
index 58d01e2..8fd876d 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/controllers/crawl.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/controllers/crawl.ts
@@ -55,8 +55,16 @@ export async function crawlController(req: Request, res: Response) {
     }
 
     const mode = req.body.mode ?? "crawl";
-    const crawlerOptions = req.body.crawlerOptions ?? { allowBackwardCrawling: false };
-    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? { onlyMainContent: false, includeHtml: false };
+
+    const crawlerOptions = req.body.crawlerOptions ?? {
+      allowBackwardCrawling: false
+    };
+    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? {
+      onlyMainContent: false,
+      includeHtml: false,
+      removeTags: [],
+      parsePDF: true
+    };
 
     if (mode === "single_urls" && !url.includes(",")) {
       try {
diff --git a/apps/api/src/controllers/crawlPreview.ts b/apps/api/src/controllers/crawlPreview.ts
index d3e9afe..2c3dc4e 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/controllers/crawlPreview.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/controllers/crawlPreview.ts
@@ -26,7 +26,7 @@ export async function crawlPreviewController(req: Request, res: Response) {
 
     const mode = req.body.mode ?? "crawl";
     const crawlerOptions = req.body.crawlerOptions ?? {};
-    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? { onlyMainContent: false, includeHtml: false };
+    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? { onlyMainContent: false, includeHtml: false, removeTags: [] };
 
     const job = await addWebScraperJob({
       url: url,
diff --git a/apps/api/src/controllers/scrape.ts b/apps/api/src/controllers/scrape.ts
index ae0de6a..1537c07 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/controllers/scrape.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/controllers/scrape.ts
@@ -105,7 +105,13 @@ export async function scrapeController(req: Request, res: Response) {
       return res.status(status).json({ error });
     }
     const crawlerOptions = req.body.crawlerOptions ?? {};
-    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? { onlyMainContent: false, includeHtml: false, waitFor: 0, screenshot: false };
+    const pageOptions = req.body.pageOptions ?? {
+      onlyMainContent: false,
+      includeHtml: false,
+      waitFor: 0,
+      screenshot: false,
+      parsePDF: true
+    };
     const extractorOptions = req.body.extractorOptions ?? {
       mode: "markdown"
     }
diff --git a/apps/api/src/controllers/search.ts b/apps/api/src/controllers/search.ts
index 5427d49..b555197 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/controllers/search.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/controllers/search.ts
@@ -85,6 +85,7 @@ export async function searchHelper(
       onlyMainContent: pageOptions?.onlyMainContent ?? true,
       fetchPageContent: pageOptions?.fetchPageContent ?? true,
       includeHtml: pageOptions?.includeHtml ?? false,
+      removeTags: pageOptions?.removeTags ?? [],
       fallback: false,
     },
   });
@@ -139,6 +140,7 @@ export async function searchController(req: Request, res: Response) {
       includeHtml: false,
       onlyMainContent: true,
       fetchPageContent: true,
+      removeTags: [],
       fallback: false,
     };
     const origin = req.body.origin ?? "api";
diff --git a/apps/api/src/lib/entities.ts b/apps/api/src/lib/entities.ts
index 21bb6ea..12d8c36 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/lib/entities.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/lib/entities.ts
@@ -19,6 +19,8 @@ export type PageOptions = {
   screenshot?: boolean;
   headers?: Record<string, string>;
   replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths?: boolean;
+  parsePDF?: boolean;
+  removeTags?: string | string[];
 };
 
 export type ExtractorOptions = {
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/custom/handleCustomScraping.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/custom/handleCustomScraping.ts
index 8108a9e..081150b 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/custom/handleCustomScraping.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/custom/handleCustomScraping.ts
@@ -1,5 +1,3 @@
-import { fetchAndProcessPdf } from "../utils/pdfProcessor";
-
 export async function handleCustomScraping(
   text: string,
   url: string
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/index.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/index.ts
index 0446ab7..3fbc6d1 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/index.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/index.ts
@@ -280,7 +280,7 @@ export class WebScraperDataProvider {
   private async fetchPdfDocuments(pdfLinks: string[]): Promise<Document[]> {
     return Promise.all(
       pdfLinks.map(async (pdfLink) => {
-        const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(pdfLink);
+        const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(pdfLink, this.pageOptions.parsePDF);
         return {
           content: content,
           metadata: { sourceURL: pdfLink, pageStatusCode, pageError },
@@ -475,7 +475,13 @@ export class WebScraperDataProvider {
     this.limit = options.crawlerOptions?.limit ?? 10000;
     this.generateImgAltText =
       options.crawlerOptions?.generateImgAltText ?? false;
-    this.pageOptions = options.pageOptions ?? { onlyMainContent: false, includeHtml: false, replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths: false };
+    this.pageOptions = options.pageOptions ?? {
+      onlyMainContent: false,
+      includeHtml: false,
+      replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths: false,
+      parsePDF: true,
+      removeTags: []
+    };
     this.extractorOptions = options.extractorOptions ?? {mode: "markdown"}
     this.replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths = options.crawlerOptions?.replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths ?? options.pageOptions?.replaceAllPathsWithAbsolutePaths ?? false;
     //! @nicolas, for some reason this was being injected and breaking everything. Don't have time to find source of the issue so adding this check
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/single_url.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/single_url.ts
index 3f7e789..1ba2832 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/single_url.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/single_url.ts
@@ -49,7 +49,7 @@ export async function scrapWithFireEngine(
   url: string,
   waitFor: number = 0,
   screenshot: boolean = false,
-  pageOptions: { scrollXPaths?: string[] } = {},
+  pageOptions: { scrollXPaths?: string[], parsePDF?: boolean } = { parsePDF: true },
   headers?: Record<string, string>,
   options?: any
 ): Promise<FireEngineResponse> {
@@ -88,7 +88,7 @@ export async function scrapWithFireEngine(
 
     const contentType = response.headers["content-type"];
     if (contentType && contentType.includes("application/pdf")) {
-      const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(url);
+      const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(url, pageOptions?.parsePDF);
       return { html: content, screenshot: "", pageStatusCode, pageError };
     } else {
       const data = response.data;
@@ -109,7 +109,8 @@ export async function scrapWithFireEngine(
 export async function scrapWithScrapingBee(
   url: string,
   wait_browser: string = "domcontentloaded",
-  timeout: number = universalTimeout
+  timeout: number = universalTimeout,
+  pageOptions: { parsePDF?: boolean } = { parsePDF: true }
 ): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
   try {
     const client = new ScrapingBeeClient(process.env.SCRAPING_BEE_API_KEY);
@@ -129,7 +130,8 @@ export async function scrapWithScrapingBee(
 
     const contentType = response.headers["content-type"];
     if (contentType && contentType.includes("application/pdf")) {
-      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url);
+      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url, pageOptions?.parsePDF);
+
     } else {
       let text = "";
       try {
@@ -149,7 +151,8 @@ export async function scrapWithScrapingBee(
 export async function scrapWithPlaywright(
   url: string,
   waitFor: number = 0,
-  headers?: Record<string, string>
+  headers?: Record<string, string>,
+  pageOptions: { parsePDF?: boolean } = { parsePDF: true }
 ): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
   try {
     const reqParams = await generateRequestParams(url);
@@ -177,7 +180,7 @@ export async function scrapWithPlaywright(
 
     const contentType = response.headers["content-type"];
     if (contentType && contentType.includes("application/pdf")) {
-      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url);
+      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url, pageOptions?.parsePDF);
     } else {
       const textData = response.data;
       try {
@@ -199,7 +202,10 @@ export async function scrapWithPlaywright(
   }
 }
 
-export async function scrapWithFetch(url: string): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
+export async function scrapWithFetch(
+  url: string,
+  pageOptions: { parsePDF?: boolean } = { parsePDF: true }
+): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
   try {
     const response = await axios.get(url, {
       headers: {
@@ -218,7 +224,7 @@ export async function scrapWithFetch(url: string): Promise<{ content: string, pa
 
     const contentType = response.headers["content-type"];
     if (contentType && contentType.includes("application/pdf")) {
-      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url);
+      return await fetchAndProcessPdf(url, pageOptions?.parsePDF);
     } else {
       const text = response.data;
       return { content: text, pageStatusCode: 200 };
@@ -309,6 +315,19 @@ export async function scrapSingleUrl(
   const removeUnwantedElements = (html: string, pageOptions: PageOptions) => {
     const soup = cheerio.load(html);
     soup("script, style, iframe, noscript, meta, head").remove();
+
+    if (pageOptions.removeTags) {
+      if (typeof pageOptions.removeTags === 'string') {
+        pageOptions.removeTags.split(',').forEach((tag) => {
+          soup(tag.trim()).remove();
+        });
+      } else if (Array.isArray(pageOptions.removeTags)) {
+        pageOptions.removeTags.forEach((tag) => {
+          soup(tag).remove();
+        });
+      }
+    }
+    
     if (pageOptions.onlyMainContent) {
       // remove any other tags that are not in the main content
       excludeNonMainTags.forEach((tag) => {
@@ -390,7 +409,7 @@ export async function scrapSingleUrl(
           }
           break;
         case "pdf":
-          const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(customScraperResult.url);
+          const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await fetchAndProcessPdf(customScraperResult.url, pageOptions?.parsePDF);
           customScrapedContent  = { html: content, screenshot, pageStatusCode, pageError }
           break;
       }
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/__tests__/pdfProcessor.test.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/__tests__/pdfProcessor.test.ts
index 3438287..55930f2 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/__tests__/pdfProcessor.test.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/__tests__/pdfProcessor.test.ts
@@ -3,7 +3,7 @@ import * as pdfProcessor from '../pdfProcessor';
 describe('PDF Processing Module - Integration Test', () => {
   it('should correctly process a simple PDF file without the LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY', async () => {
     delete process.env.LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY;
-    const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await pdfProcessor.fetchAndProcessPdf('https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/storage.mendable.ai/rafa-testing/test%20%281%29.pdf');
+    const { content, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await pdfProcessor.fetchAndProcessPdf('https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/storage.mendable.ai/rafa-testing/test%20%281%29.pdf', true);
     expect(content.trim()).toEqual("Dummy PDF file");
     expect(pageStatusCode).toEqual(200);
     expect(pageError).toBeUndefined();
diff --git a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/pdfProcessor.ts b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/pdfProcessor.ts
index 715f30d..1a67d60 100644
--- a/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/pdfProcessor.ts
+++ b/apps/api/src/scraper/WebScraper/utils/pdfProcessor.ts
@@ -9,9 +9,9 @@ import os from "os";
 
 dotenv.config();
 
-export async function fetchAndProcessPdf(url: string): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
+export async function fetchAndProcessPdf(url: string, parsePDF: boolean): Promise<{ content: string, pageStatusCode?: number, pageError?: string }> {
   const { tempFilePath, pageStatusCode, pageError } = await downloadPdf(url);
-  const  content = await processPdfToText(tempFilePath);
+  const content = await processPdfToText(tempFilePath, parsePDF);
   fs.unlinkSync(tempFilePath); // Clean up the temporary file
   return { content, pageStatusCode, pageError };
 }
@@ -34,10 +34,10 @@ async function downloadPdf(url: string): Promise<{ tempFilePath: string, pageSta
   });
 }
 
-export async function processPdfToText(filePath: string): Promise<string> {
+export async function processPdfToText(filePath: string, parsePDF: boolean): Promise<string> {
   let content = "";
 
-  if (process.env.LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY) {
+  if (process.env.LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY && parsePDF) {
     const apiKey = process.env.LLAMAPARSE_API_KEY;
     const headers = {
       Authorization: `Bearer ${apiKey}`,
@@ -95,8 +95,10 @@ export async function processPdfToText(filePath: string): Promise<string> {
       console.error("Error processing pdf document w/ LlamaIndex(2)");
       content = await processPdf(filePath);
     }
-  } else {
+  } else if (parsePDF) {
     content = await processPdf(filePath);
+  } else {
+    content = fs.readFileSync(filePath, "utf-8");
   }
   return content;
 }
diff --git a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__init__.py b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__init__.py
index ecb017f..fbb2bdb 100644
--- a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__init__.py
+++ b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__init__.py
@@ -1,3 +1,57 @@
+"""
+This is the Firecrawl package.
+
+This package provides a Python SDK for interacting with the Firecrawl API.
+It includes methods to scrape URLs, perform searches, initiate and monitor crawl jobs,
+and check the status of these jobs.
+
+For more information visit https://github.com/firecrawl/
+"""
+
+import logging
+import os
+
 from .firecrawl import FirecrawlApp
 
-__version__ = "0.0.14"
+__version__ = "0.0.16"
+
+# Define the logger for the Firecrawl project
+logger: logging.Logger = logging.getLogger("firecrawl")
+
+
+def _basic_config() -> None:
+    """Set up basic configuration for logging with a specific format and date format."""
+    try:
+        logging.basicConfig(
+            format="[%(asctime)s - %(name)s:%(lineno)d - %(levelname)s] %(message)s",
+            datefmt="%Y-%m-%d %H:%M:%S",
+        )
+    except Exception as e:
+        logger.error("Failed to configure logging: %s", e)
+
+
+def setup_logging() -> None:
+    """Set up logging based on the FIRECRAWL_LOGGING_LEVEL environment variable."""
+    env = os.environ.get(
+        "FIRECRAWL_LOGGING_LEVEL", "INFO"
+    ).upper()  # Default to 'INFO' level
+    _basic_config()
+
+    if env == "DEBUG":
+        logger.setLevel(logging.DEBUG)
+    elif env == "INFO":
+        logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+    elif env == "WARNING":
+        logger.setLevel(logging.WARNING)
+    elif env == "ERROR":
+        logger.setLevel(logging.ERROR)
+    elif env == "CRITICAL":
+        logger.setLevel(logging.CRITICAL)
+    else:
+        logger.setLevel(logging.INFO)
+        logger.warning("Unknown logging level: %s, defaulting to INFO", env)
+
+
+# Initialize logging configuration when the module is imported
+setup_logging()
+logger.debug("Debugging logger setup")
diff --git a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/__pycache__/test.cpython-311-pytest-8.2.1.pyc b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/__pycache__/test.cpython-311-pytest-8.2.1.pyc
new file mode 100644
index 0000000..5ba1f13
Binary files /dev/null and b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/__pycache__/test.cpython-311-pytest-8.2.1.pyc differ
diff --git a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/test.py b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/test.py
index 90a6498..452d498 100644
--- a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/test.py
+++ b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/__tests__/e2e_withAuth/test.py
@@ -27,14 +27,14 @@ def test_scrape_url_invalid_api_key():
     invalid_app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key="invalid_api_key")
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         invalid_app.scrape_url('https://firecrawl.dev')
-    assert "Failed to scrape URL. Status code: 401" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "Unexpected error during scrape URL: Status code 401. Unauthorized: Invalid token" in str(excinfo.value)
 
 def test_blocklisted_url():
     blocklisted_url = "https://facebook.com/fake-test"
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key=TEST_API_KEY)
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         app.scrape_url(blocklisted_url)
-    assert "Failed to scrape URL. Status code: 403" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "Unexpected error during scrape URL: Status code 403. Firecrawl currently does not support social media scraping due to policy restrictions. We're actively working on building support for it." in str(excinfo.value)
 
 def test_successful_response_with_valid_preview_token():
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key="this_is_just_a_preview_token")
@@ -86,14 +86,14 @@ def test_crawl_url_invalid_api_key():
     invalid_app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key="invalid_api_key")
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         invalid_app.crawl_url('https://firecrawl.dev')
-    assert "Unexpected error occurred while trying to start crawl job. Status code: 401" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "Unexpected error during start crawl job: Status code 401. Unauthorized: Invalid token" in str(excinfo.value)
 
 def test_should_return_error_for_blocklisted_url():
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key=TEST_API_KEY)
     blocklisted_url = "https://twitter.com/fake-test"
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         app.crawl_url(blocklisted_url)
-    assert "Unexpected error occurred while trying to start crawl job. Status code: 403" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "Unexpected error during start crawl job: Status code 403. Firecrawl currently does not support social media scraping due to policy restrictions. We're actively working on building support for it." in str(excinfo.value)
 
 def test_crawl_url_wait_for_completion_e2e():
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key=TEST_API_KEY)
@@ -114,7 +114,7 @@ def test_crawl_url_with_idempotency_key_e2e():
 
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         app.crawl_url('https://firecrawl.dev', {'crawlerOptions': {'excludes': ['blog/*']}}, True, 2, uniqueIdempotencyKey)
-    assert "Failed to start crawl job. Status code: 409. Error: Idempotency key already used" in str(excinfo.value) 
+    assert "Conflict: Failed to start crawl job due to a conflict. Idempotency key already used" in str(excinfo.value) 
 
 def test_check_crawl_status_e2e():
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key=TEST_API_KEY)
@@ -141,7 +141,7 @@ def test_search_invalid_api_key():
     invalid_app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key="invalid_api_key")
     with pytest.raises(Exception) as excinfo:
         invalid_app.search("test query")
-    assert "Failed to search. Status code: 401" in str(excinfo.value)
+    assert "Unexpected error during search: Status code 401. Unauthorized: Invalid token" in str(excinfo.value)
 
 def test_llm_extraction():
     app = FirecrawlApp(api_url=API_URL, api_key=TEST_API_KEY)
diff --git a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/firecrawl.py b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/firecrawl.py
index b9a823f..7ec0d33 100644
--- a/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/firecrawl.py
+++ b/apps/python-sdk/firecrawl/firecrawl.py
@@ -9,13 +9,14 @@ and handles retries for certain HTTP status codes.
 Classes:
     - FirecrawlApp: Main class for interacting with the Firecrawl API.
 """
-
+import logging
 import os
 import time
 from typing import Any, Dict, Optional
 
 import requests
 
+logger : logging.Logger = logging.getLogger("firecrawl")
 
 class FirecrawlApp:
     """
@@ -28,8 +29,15 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
     def __init__(self, api_key: Optional[str] = None, api_url: Optional[str] = None) -> None:
         self.api_key = api_key or os.getenv('FIRECRAWL_API_KEY')
         if self.api_key is None:
+            logger.warning("No API key provided")
             raise ValueError('No API key provided')
+        else:
+            logger.debug("Initialized FirecrawlApp with API key: %s", self.api_key)
+
         self.api_url = api_url or os.getenv('FIRECRAWL_API_URL', 'https://api.firecrawl.dev')
+        if self.api_url != 'https://api.firecrawl.dev':
+            logger.debug("Initialized FirecrawlApp with API URL: %s", self.api_url)
+
     def scrape_url(self, url: str, params: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> Any:
         """
         Scrape the specified URL using the Firecrawl API.
@@ -45,10 +53,8 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
             Exception: If the scrape request fails.
         """
 
-        headers = {
-            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-            'Authorization': f'Bearer {self.api_key}'
-        }
+        headers = self._prepare_headers()
+
         # Prepare the base scrape parameters with the URL
         scrape_params = {'url': url}
 
@@ -81,13 +87,10 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
                 return response['data']
             else:
                 raise Exception(f'Failed to scrape URL. Error: {response["error"]}')
-        elif response.status_code in [402, 408, 409, 500]:
-            error_message = response.json().get('error', 'Unknown error occurred')
-            raise Exception(f'Failed to scrape URL. Status code: {response.status_code}. Error: {error_message}')
         else:
-            raise Exception(f'Failed to scrape URL. Status code: {response.status_code}')
+            self._handle_error(response, 'scrape URL')
 
-    def search(self, query, params=None):
+    def search(self, query: str, params: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None) -> Any:
         """
         Perform a search using the Firecrawl API.
 
@@ -101,10 +104,7 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
         Raises:
             Exception: If the search request fails.
         """
-        headers = {
-            'Content-Type': 'application/json',
-            'Authorization': f'Bearer {self.api_key}'
-        }
+        headers = self._prepare_headers()
         json_data = {'query': query}
         if params:
             json_data.update(params)
@@ -121,13 +121,14 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
             else:
                 raise Exception(f'Failed to search. Error: {response["error"]}')
 
-        elif response.status_code in [402, 409, 500]:
-            error_message = response.json().get('error', 'Unknown error occurred')
-            raise Exception(f'Failed to search. Status code: {response.status_code}. Error: {error_message}')
         else:
-            raise Exception(f'Failed to search. Status code: {response.status_code}')
+            self._handle_error(response, 'search')
 
-    def crawl_url(self, url, params=None, wait_until_done=True, poll_interval=2, idempotency_key=None):
+    def crawl_url(self, url: str,
+                  params: Optional[Dict[str, Any]] = None,
+                  wait_until_done: bool = True,
+                  poll_interval: int = 2,
+                  idempotency_key: Optional[str] = None) -> Any:
         """
         Initiate a crawl job for the specified URL using the Firecrawl API.
 
@@ -158,7 +159,7 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
         else:
             self._handle_error(response, 'start crawl job')
 
-    def check_crawl_status(self, job_id):
+    def check_crawl_status(self, job_id: str) -> Any:
         """
         Check the status of a crawl job using the Firecrawl API.
 
@@ -178,7 +179,7 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
         else:
             self._handle_error(response, 'check crawl status')
 
-    def _prepare_headers(self, idempotency_key=None):
+    def _prepare_headers(self, idempotency_key: Optional[str] = None) -> Dict[str, str]:
         """
         Prepare the headers for API requests.
 
@@ -200,7 +201,11 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
             'Authorization': f'Bearer {self.api_key}',
         }
 
-    def _post_request(self, url, data, headers, retries=3, backoff_factor=0.5):
+    def _post_request(self, url: str,
+                      data: Dict[str, Any],
+                      headers: Dict[str, str],
+                      retries: int = 3,
+                      backoff_factor: float = 0.5) -> requests.Response:
         """
         Make a POST request with retries.
 
@@ -225,7 +230,10 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
                 return response
         return response
 
-    def _get_request(self, url, headers, retries=3, backoff_factor=0.5):
+    def _get_request(self, url: str,
+                     headers: Dict[str, str],
+                     retries: int = 3,
+                     backoff_factor: float = 0.5) -> requests.Response:
         """
         Make a GET request with retries.
 
@@ -249,7 +257,7 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
                 return response
         return response
 
-    def _monitor_job_status(self, job_id, headers, poll_interval):
+    def _monitor_job_status(self, job_id: str, headers: Dict[str, str], poll_interval: int) -> Any:
         """
         Monitor the status of a crawl job until completion.
 
@@ -281,7 +289,7 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
             else:
                 self._handle_error(status_response, 'check crawl status')
 
-    def _handle_error(self, response, action):
+    def _handle_error(self, response: requests.Response, action: str) -> None:
         """
         Handle errors from API responses.
 
@@ -292,8 +300,19 @@ class FirecrawlApp:
         Raises:
             Exception: An exception with a message containing the status code and error details from the response.
         """
-        if response.status_code in [402, 408, 409, 500]:
-            error_message = response.json().get('error', 'Unknown error occurred')
-            raise Exception(f'Failed to {action}. Status code: {response.status_code}. Error: {error_message}')
+        error_message = response.json().get('error', 'No additional error details provided.')
+
+        if response.status_code == 402:
+            message = f"Payment Required: Failed to {action}. {error_message}"
+        elif response.status_code == 408:
+            message = f"Request Timeout: Failed to {action} as the request timed out. {error_message}"
+        elif response.status_code == 409:
+            message = f"Conflict: Failed to {action} due to a conflict. {error_message}"
+        elif response.status_code == 500:
+            message = f"Internal Server Error: Failed to {action}. {error_message}"
         else:
-            raise Exception(f'Unexpected error occurred while trying to {action}. Status code: {response.status_code}')
+            message = f"Unexpected error during {action}: Status code {response.status_code}. {error_message}"
+
+        # Raise an HTTPError with the custom message and attach the response
+        raise requests.exceptions.HTTPError(message, response=response)
+    
\ No newline at end of file