Optimizing Web Data Collection with Dynamic Proxy Solutions

Data plays the main role in competitive struggle. After all, who knows the information – owns the world, and that is becoming increasingly evident with the advent of web scraping.

An essential element of any web scraping project is rotating residential proxies. In this article we are focusing on why rotating residential proxies are necessary to successfully collect data.

There are a number of reasons why someone might want to scrape a website – for market research, for data analysis, for archiving information, or simply because the information is not easily accessible otherwise. Whatever the reason, if you’re looking to get into web scraping you’re going to need rotating residential proxies.

What are proxies?

Using a proxy server, you can route requests through a server that acts as an intermediary. Normally, your data would go directly to the destination server, and it would see your IP address as a source of the request. With a proxy, however, you can make it look like this middle-server makes all requests that originally were yours. As a result, you get an “avatar” that hides your IP and prevents the target servers from identifying you.

However, if simply hiding your true IP was the only obstacle to web scraping, it wouldn’t be so challenging.

The problems begin when you try to collect data using a single proxy IP. Since your actions don’t look like the actions of real users, the website’s algorithms detect and block that exact IP.

So how do you not only hide your IP, but also appear to be a real user when collecting data? The answer is:

Residential proxies

What is different about residential proxies? From one hand, the concept is the same: a third-party IP that routes requests back and forth between you and the target. On the other hand:

1. They are sourced from real homes and end-user devices. That means they have a legitimate record
2. They come in pools, not one by one. That way you can change them at certain intervals, when the target starts getting suspicious

And now we smoothly approached the last part of the term:

What are rotating residential proxies?

Also known as Dynamic or P2P, these proxies are an irreplaceable tool for any large-scale web scraping project. “Rotating” essentially means that you’re using not a single proxy, but a large number of proxies at the same time. That number should be big enough to give you a new IP even for each request, speed up the scraping and avoid blocks.

Rotating residential proxies are typically gathered in large pools to be able to rotate between each other frequently. The IPs usually come from end-user devices and thus are associated only with human-like behavior.

Only when you combine rotation and the high reliability of residential IP addresses, you are on the right track to successful data collection.

Why choose rotating residential proxies for web scraping?

The main challenge of web scraping is the protection that websites use to prevent it. The modern algorithms have a vast variety of ways to detect non-human activities, and you don’t want to be caught by them.

The main measure that is used by websites is IP-based block. If they see suspicious requests coming from a certain IP, they block it right away. In other cases, you may not be blocked, but instead given false information to mislead you.

However, if you use rotating residential proxies, these problems are easily eliminated. You can set up proxies to change at certain intervals or even per each request, making your actions almost undetectable.

How to choose a proxy provider?

The following factors should be considered in addition to the obvious ones, such as speed and price:

• If a provider has the relevant type of proxies for web scraping – namely rotating residential proxies
• If you will be assigned an account manager (especially if you don’t know which proxies to use for your task)
• The proxy pools should include countries that you need to target
• Shared proxies are different from private ones: make sure you know which ones are guaranteed by the provider
• Check your provider’s restrictions for target domains – certain sites may be blocked.

Data collection with a mindful approach

In spite of many measures taken by website owners to prevent web scraping, it is always possible to collect the data if you put in the effort. The process can be significantly sped up and simplified by using a rotating residential proxy network.

NetNut maintains the highest standards of proxy services. NetNut provides access to a unique, hybrid network through dynamic and ISP proxies. Take advantage of our 20M+ residential IPs and achieve the best results. Reach out to our sales team today for a 7-day free trial if you are interested in streamlining your web scraping.