Technology has evolved so much that proxies are often detectable. But that isn’t the case with residential proxies. So, the freedom of navigating the internet gives residential proxies an edge over other proxy types. However many users are still in the dark about how these proxies work and why they are used.
In this guide, we will delve into the working mechanism of residential proxies and learn about the most common use cases. To enjoy residential proxies to the fullest, you should check Proxyway’s guide on the best residential proxies. It gives you a list of the best proxy providers.
The Idea and Working Mechanism of Residential Proxies
As you are reading this guide on the internet, you might be familiar with proxies. They are nothing but IP addresses but differ from the real IP address assigned to our devices. In many cases, the proxy address is created in a data center. Websites have detection mechanisms to filter data center proxies and block them from accessing the website.
The game of residential proxies begins here. Residential proxies are just like your original IP addresses. They are genuine and bound to a real device. The difference is, that the IP address belongs to someone else. You get to use their IP addresses to mask your own.
It provides a long list of benefits for a variety of purposes. We will introduce you to some of the most common use cases of residential proxies below.
Common Use Cases of Residential Proxies
Residential proxies are generally used for purposes where anonymity and reliability are priorities. See how residential proxies play a pivotal role in the following fields.
Web Scraping
Web scraping means gathering data from different platforms that are publicly available. Websites impose limits on collecting data in this way and ban IP addresses that are used in suspicious requests.
This mostly happens with data center proxies. Websites can detect data center proxies easily. When you use residential proxies, web servers think that the requests are from real users. So, the chance of getting blocked is close to zero.
Monitoring SEO
A big part of search engine optimization is analyzing SERPs. It requires the use of bots to scrape a vast amount of data from search engines. But this is against the policy of most search engines. So, analyzing the SEO performance of a website becomes much harder.
Residential proxies help you get rid of the difficulties. With residential proxies, you can easily scrape SEO data from search engines. Search engines usually don’t suspect requests from residential proxies, as they are tied to real users.
Verifying Ads
Modern marketing highly depends on showing ads on different channels globally. However, it is often tricky for companies to travel to different locations and check if the ads are working as they are supposed to. Residential proxies can help businesses overcome this hurdle.
With residential proxies, you can precisely choose different geolocations and verify if the ads are working properly. Preventing ad fraud also requires the use of residential proxies.
Improving Anonymity
You might have heard of browser or device fingerprinting. Web servers collect data about our browsers, devices, operating systems, etc. They combine our browsing patterns, news preferences, shopping preferences, etc. to our device or browser data to make our profiles.
This data is sold to third parties who use the data in ad targeting. If you don’t want to be a victim of ad targeting, you can use residential proxies for internet browsing. As you can use different residential proxies for different sessions, websites won’t be able to make a complete profile of yourself.
Scalping Products
When the supply of a product is limited, the demand will be sky-high. Many businesses take this opportunity to release limited edition products at a premium price. As the demand is high, clever consumers use bots to get a hold of the limited edition products.
Websites have safety mechanisms to block bots from accessing the website. So, residential proxies are the last resort. With residential proxies, even a request from a bot looks like a real user.
Residential Proxy Types
You will commonly get two types of residential proxies, static and rotating. In the case of static proxies, you get a small list of residential proxies. You can switch between proxies but that requires manual intervention.
Rotating proxies are more beneficial because the proxy server can switch between proxies on its own. This type of proxy is more suitable for large-scale operations.
Conclusion
Residential proxies offer a great variety of benefits, including access to geo-restricted content, masking digital footprint, and scraping website data. With rotating residential proxies, the possibilities are endless. The versatility of residential proxies makes them one of the most popular proxy types. Even though residential proxies are a bit more expensive than other proxies, the investment is worth it.