5 Reasons to Use Rotating Proxies for SEO Scraping

Search Engine Optimization, or SEO, is essential for businesses of any size. Improving your SEO requires lots of data before you can get to work. Here are 5 reasons to use rotating proxies for SEO scraping when you go to harvest that data.

By the way, if you need help deciding on what tools you’ll be using to do that scraping, check out:

• Python Libraries for Web Scraping
• Premium Prebuilt Web Scraping Tools
• Advanced Residential Proxies, they’ll handle the scraping for you.

Now, let’s go over those 5 reasons to use rotating proxies for SEO scraping.

Reason #1: So You Don’t Get Blocked

Web scrapers gather information by sending tons of requests to the targeted site. When your bot is working from a static IP address, it will quickly get blocked by the site.

When your bot uses rotating IP addresses, the target site is significantly less likely to recognize that all of those requests are coming from the same source. 

Unfortunately, there are ways of building a digital fingerprint even with changing IP addresses. So, you need to ensure your web scraper bot is properly configured. How to Outsmart Anti-Scraping Techniques covers this in more detail.

It’s also worth noting that datacenter proxies are detectable. Some sites will block their entire subnet range if they’re on the lookout for them. This is because datacenter proxies are easily attributed to botting, which is ultimately what they are trying to block. 

Residential and mobile proxies look like organic traffic though, avoiding this issue. Due to the larger availability and lower cost of residential IPs vs mobile ones, they are typically the go-to for the majority of scraping projects.

Reason #2: Anonymity 

Let’s operate on the assumption that your web scraping bot is properly configured. By rotating IPs and taking other anti-fingerprinting measures, you’ll remain completely anonymous. 

This anonymity is particularly important for SEO scraping for two reasons.

The first reason is that you can check out your competition without them knowing the traffic is coming from you.

The second reason is that Google uses digital fingerprints to tailor your search results. By shrugging off the fingerprints, you’ll get clean results. This leads to the 3rd reason out of the 5 reasons to use rotating proxies for SEO scraping; accuracy.

Reason #3: Accuracy

Accuracy is essential when you’re doing keyword research and checking your rankings. If you operate off of skewed results from Google, then your SEO efforts might be in vain.

So, when your scraper bot fully utilizes rotating IPs and avoids building up any fingerprints, you get the most accurate results possible. You’ll then see results just like a new potential client would when they do their search.

Reason #4: Avoid Those Pesky CAPTCHAs

Everyone that has spent any time online is familiar with CAPTCHAs by now. As well as how [REDACTED] annoying they can be. Select every image with a boat? Does the canoe count? They fit the literal definition of a boat!

Of course, the whole reason we have to deal with CAPTCHAs is because they can stop a bot dead in its tracks. 

Apart from sites that run CAPTCHAs all the time, such as those concerned with piracy, you typically don’t run into too many of them during regular browsing. However, some sites will throw CAPTCHAs around when they’re suspicious of bot activity before resorting to a block or ban. 

That’s where rotating proxies come into play. Alongside avoiding getting the IP address blacklisted, your bot will be less likely to get stymied by CAPTCHAs.

Reason #5: Targeted Geo-Locations

Just like accuracy is important, having thorough information is pretty great, too.

Using geo-targeted locations lets you search for keywords and check your rankings from different places. 

Just like Google will adjust your results based on your search history, it will take geo-positional information into account, too.

Websites may also show different information based on the location of the calling IP address. Checking from different geo-locations means you’ll get more complete data from your scraping endeavors.

Recommended Proxy Service Providers

Deciding which service to use can be a headache of its own. A few great options are covered in The Best Google Proxy Providers and The Best SEO Proxies. So, let’s cover a few other options that are worth considering.

RSocks

RSocks offers unlimited data with all of their rotating residential plans, stretching across a pool of 3M IP addresses.

They offer much more granular duration options than most providers do; by the hour, day, week, or month. Their robust array of geo-location options influences the pricing of their packages. Apart from their rotating mix option, their rotating residential proxies allow up to 50 simultaneous threads.

Let’s use their USA pool as an example of their pricing plans:

• 5$ for an hour.
• 10$ for a day.
• 30$ for a week.
• 100$ for a month.

They also offer a free test if you want to ensure that they’re the right fit for you before buying in.

ProxyRack

ProxyRack similarly offers unlimited data with all of their rotating residential proxy plans. While their pool of 2M IPs may be smaller, the quality of their service makes them still worth considering.

All of their rotating residential proxy packages are by the month. They offer discounts when you buy several months access all at once, though. A 5% discount for 3 months, 10% discount for 6 months, and 17% discount for 12 months.

The difference between their plans is the number of simultaneous threads you can use. Their packages range from 100 threads to 5,000 threads. Anything higher would be a custom enterprise package. Those plans are:

• Elite 100 for $199/month.
• Guru 200 for $299/month.
• Mega 500 for $599/month.
• Pro 1000 for $1099/month.
• Giga 2000 for $1999/month.
• Gold 5000 for $4399/month.

They also have a 3-day trial for all of their services at once for $13.95. Additionally, their rotating residential proxies include a money-back guarantee.

Infatica

Infatica’s rotating residential proxies allow unlimited connections, rather than unlimited data. They have a generous pool of 60M residential IPs, and their mobile plans have a 35M IP pool.

Their pricing on rotating residential packages is:

• Start plan: 40GB/month for $360.
• Pro plan: 100GB/month for $700.
• Plus plan: 400GB/month for $2,400.
• High volume: 1,000GB/month for $3,500.
• Bulk volume: 10,000GB/month for $20,000.

Or a pay-as-you-go package starting at $360 for 12$ per GB. 

They also offer free trial accounts, you just need to provide your contact details first.

Conclusion

The competition over Google rankings is fierce. You can’t just stick your head in the sand and assume your rankings are as good as they’re going to get. Getting on the first page of results would make a huge difference in your site’s traffic. But, you need to hustle to get there.

These 5 reasons to use rotating proxies for SEO scraping make it clear how important proxies are for scraping projects. RSocks, ProxyRack, and Infatica are all reliable provider options worth considering. But, if you’re inexperienced with proxies, check out these things to think about before purchasing proxies.