Residential proxies and data extraction
24 July 2020
On Astro, a trusted proxy website, anyone can buy the best residential, mobile and datacenter proxies or try a pool of IPs for free. We offer geo targeted proxies as well as rotating, individual, anonymous, public, transparent and other types. Today, let’s talk about the advantages of residential proxies in the data collection process: why they are best suited for this task and how to use them for scraping and parsing.
In order to run an online business successfully, one should stay informed about what’s going on in the business world and, particularly, in its specific sphere. There always has to be a source of relevant information at hand. There are lots of reasons why we need to use this information. First, we need to know how a business works, so we need to browse and read about similar projects. Second, we should have a bit of understanding of how our competitors are doing and know the secrets of their success, so we can apply some practices in our own business. Third, to compete successfully, we need to analyze the competitors’ pricing policies and/or check relevant pricing information, which is not always available through mere browsing.
How big data is collected
Browsing is a common way of obtaining information, which everyone tries at some point. However, it is very time-taking and not productive at all on a business scale. There are automated scraping, phishing, crawling and parsing tools and techniques (bots, robots, spiders, etc.). They are used for extracting large volumes of data from websites. Today, there is hardly a successful enterprise out there, which has not used at least one of these methods of data harvesting.
Why people buy residential, mobile and datacenter proxies
Website owners and admins are unwilling to give away information from their websites, which they have worked so hard to obtain. Therefore, they do their utmost to secure proprietary information, which they do not want to share with potential competitors. They regard any bot, crawler, spider, etc. activity as suspicious and take steps to block it. They can identify you by IP and, if they assume that you are visiting their site too frequently, they will blacklist and block you right away. If you have visited the site from multiple accounts yet from the same IP address, you will get banned inevitably. To avoid this, you should mask your IP, and for that reason, buy residential, mobile or datacenter proxies from a trusted website.
How proxies help mask real IPs
Businesses (marketers, PR agencies, SEO specialists) buy residential IPs to establish a proxy connection. It is a popular solution for those who need to disguise their actual IP addresses. If you have connected to one, your target websites will see the proxy’s IP address, not yours. If you have chosen to buy residential, mobile or best datacenter proxies, you sign up with a proxy network and get a pool of proxies. They are geo targeted, dynamic, anonymous IPs which you need for your safe activity online. You can set them up in such a way that you connect to a different one every time you go online, and extract data. Also, you can set up a bot to connect to different proxies at a set interval of time and get your crawler to work. This will help you look more natural to websites and reduce the likelihood of getting a red flag.
Residential and datacenter proxies
Datacenter proxies are the most popular type of proxies but they are far from the best. Such proxy servers are located at data centers and are owned by large companies. These proxies are most frequently used by scrapers, parsers, crawlers and other types of data extraction bots. Unfortunately, there is a category of users who use these tools for unethical and even criminal purposes. This has earned datacenter proxies some bad reputation. Websites have developed advanced methods of distinguishing between different types of proxies and regard datacenter proxies with suspicion. Some websites already have pools of blacklisted datacenter proxies and ban users visiting them from these IPs. This means that a datacenter proxy is no longer a panacea against bans.
Why residential proxies are more helpful in data collection
It’s a whole different story with residential IPs. They are IP addresses provided to homeowners by an ISP. Homeowners’ devices (PCs, laptops, tablets, smartphones) play the role of a proxy server once you connect to the Internet via one. For this reason, when you buy residential IP and visit a website via it, the site sees the homeowner’s IP address, not yours.
Although residential proxies have weak spots, they are still increasingly helpful in data harvesting. There are several good reasons why businesses choose residential proxies to extract big data:
- Because the devices mentioned above belong to real users (homeowners), websites and online services see these IPs and have no reason to be suspicious about them. So if you have connected to one, the target site will see the homeowner’s IP and will not block you. Now, what you actually do is hide your main IP address behind a real user’s IP address.
- Residential IPs are unified into networks, which operate in different parts of the world. For example, a trusted proxy website Astro handles residential IPs in Russia, Germany, France, Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. This means that you can sign up with our network and go online via any residential proxy server located in these countries.
- Astro can ensure even better protection with the help of residential rotating (backconnect) proxies. Not only can you hide your IP address behind another one, but also connect to a new IP every time you go online. You buy a pool of residential proxies, so you can switch between them. A target site will see it as if it has lots of visits from different geo locations. You can set the system to rotate IPs at your preferred time interval or contact us to switch IPs upon your request. This option will help you scrape dozens of sites without getting red flags.
The best whitelisted proxies from a trusted website
Astro offers a range of services and high security level at an affordable price. Because residential proxies are more expensive than datacenter proxies, many users face a temptation of getting involved with free residential proxy networks. They offer free services either because they are too broke to purchase and implement high quality software and hardware or they scam and/or hack users’ accounts and steal personal information. Neither is acceptable for a user.
Therefore, we advise you to sign up with a network, which has been around for a little while and has a strong standing in the market. Astro is a trusted proxy website with a rapidly growing network of residential and mobile proxies. Anyone can buy them as we offer plans that are tailored to users’ most common needs and budgets. Also, there is a free trial period, so you can test every option and see how it suits your needs.
