Web scraping proxies are essential in keeping your IP address safe. They hide your primary IP using an IP masking process. This process enables you to access data without the risk of your IP getting blocked.
When using a web scraping proxy, the target websites can nolonger see your real IP address. Instead, they see the proxy IP addresses enabling you to scrap with a higher level of security.
Technology makes it easy and safe to scrap and access data for various reasons like innovation, marketing analysis, or brand monitoring. That’s why it’s best practice to use web scraping proxies and to choose the best ones for your business needs. They can be forward or reverse proxies.
Here are the types of proxy IPs that web scrapers can use.
1. DataCenter IPs for Web Scraping Proxies
Datacenter proxies are in data centers across different locations and countries. They have IP addresses from different Datacenters that you can use to scrape any website. The Datacenter proxies are also fast and can provide remote servers.
2. Residential IP for Web Scraping Proxies
When scraping the internet, you might need to use proxies that offer numerous locations you can connect from. A residential proxy helps collect data from various websites in various regions and bypass target device barriers. This is because the geotargeting functionality makes you appear like you are anywhere in the world.
Residential proxies also enable you to connect to millions across the globe. They are unique legitimate, and offer a higher level of security, making them less likely to be blocked by target devices.
3. Mobile IP for Web Scraping Proxies
Mobile proxies use the IP addresses of mobile networks. These IPs make users look like they are connected to a mobile device.
Mobile proxy types include 4G, 5G, and dedicated and rotating proxies. They help to mask a web scraper’s real IP address and provide access to restricted content. Mobile proxies protect your real IP from being banned or blacklisted.
Why is a Proxy Pool Important?
A proxy pool manages a group of proxies. It delegates your requests to different proxies instead of one. A proxy pool allows you to make concurrent requests to targeted devices or websites.
It enables access to restricted sites multiple times. This reduces the risk of using a single web scraping proxy that might encounter limited access.
Consider these factors when building a web scraping proxy pool.
Number of User Requests
When building a web scraping proxy pool, know the number of requests you need to send within a specific timeframe.
For example, how many requests will you send in 45 minutes? This will determine the size of your proxy pool. If you are sending a larger request to a target device, you’ll need a larger proxy pool.
Size of Website
If your target is big, your proxy pool must be big. Bigger websites usually have mechanisms in place to counter bots.
That’s why you need more proxies to avoid such measures from flagging your proxies as bots. A larger proxy pool will help you avoid an antibot technology when scraping.
Type and Quality of Web Scraping Proxies
Decide the type of web scraping proxies you need in your proxy pool. You can choose Residential proxies, Mobile or Datacenter. They can also be shared, dedicated or public proxies.
Shared proxies are accessible to multiple users at the same time. That means you share resources making it more affordable.
The drawback of shared proxies is many people can be scraping the same site simultaneously, increasing the chances of IP blocking.
Other proxies include public proxies. They are open to everyone making them less secure. They can also lead to collecting poor-quality data.
A dedicated proxy is ideal. It doesn’t allow sharing of resources. It exclusively provides you with IP addresses and bandwidth. A dedicated proxy is best if you want the same IP for longer.
Managing your Proxy Pool
After creating your web scraping proxy pool, you need to manage it systematically. Managing a proxy pool requires a dedicated team.
For example, you need to understand techniques like proxy rotation, throttling, ban identification and session management.
Benefits of Web Scraping Proxies
Web scraping proxies allow you to access the information you need to achieve your objective. It prevents IP banning and enables you to perform large-scale scraping.
Proxies also provide access to quality and reliable information. Here’s an indepth look at the benefits proxies.
Provides IP Masking
Web scraping proxies hide your primary IP through a mechanism known as IP masking. IP masking is when a proxy server uses a different IP address to scrap your target device.
A web scraping proxy helps you avoid making several requests using one IP address that could lead to IP blacklisting. It protects your primary IP address from being blocked or banned by a targeted website.
Allows Access to Restricted Content
Some sites restrict their content to an audience in a specific geographical location. Such restrictions make accessing information difficult for IP addresses from other locations. Web scraping servers can bypass such restrictions and access information.
Large Scale Web Scraping
Having a large proxy pool enables you to perform large-scale web scraping. It enables you to send more requests to the target site without the risk of antibot technology blocking you.
A larger pool of proxies ensures different requests are assigned to different proxies. This makes the requests look like they are coming from different users, and the target will not block them.
Blocking or denial of service happens if the target site notices too many requests from the same IP address.
Key Takeaway
Web scraping proxies play an important role in large-scale businesses. That’s why you need to understand how proxies can secure you online and help you access valuable content.
Choosing suitable web scraping proxies for your business’s needs is also critical. So, knowing the importance of building and managing a proxy pool will help you enjoy the benefits of your proxies and avoid IP blocking.
