Residential Proxies for Data Scraping - Why Do We Need Them

As one of the greatest inventions in human history, the internet has completely transformed most significant aspects of our daily lives. In just a few decades, the world will no longer know a generation untouched by Information Technologies. But what unites all niches, professions, and entertainment formats under the umbrella of digitalization?

When tackling a complex topic, it is always beneficial to focus on a specific attribute and start peeling layers of abstraction. With this strategy, it becomes clear that at the core of the internet and IT we have two key market traits - fast and efficient transmission of data, plus enhanced tools for information storage.

Collection, analysis, and usage of valuable information yield incredible power. However, the free availability of data has changed its value. When everyone has access to public information, the parties that gather and apply it the fastest are the ones that benefit the most.

Marketing campaigns, e-commerce strategies, and social media management processes all depend on collecting information as fast as possible. Still, because a person is not capable of extracting and processing big data with appropriate speed, modern companies and business-minded people use automatable data collection bots - web scrapers. The problem is, that as powerful as they are, modern web servers are often equipped with anti-bot protections that identify and block their IP addresses.

However, because the concept of web scraping is too valuable to miss out on, modern data scientists have chosen residential proxies – middleman servers that mask connections with a different IP address, as their best partner for data-related procedures.

After introducing readers to the importance of data transmission and web scraping, this beginner’s guide will focus on the transformative role of residential proxies and their benefits for data acquisition. First, we will cover the main challenges of web scraping before delving into the pros of quality residential proxies, which offer anonymity, security, and compliance. Keep reading to learn and apply residential proxy servers for enhanced web scraping endeavors and data-driven insights.

How does a web scraper collect data?

Web scrapers extract and download the HTML code of a targeted page that would otherwise be rendered on your browser. Once the raw data is stored on a chosen device, a designated parsing tool removes the unwanted elements and structures specific information into data sets.

Data scraping is much faster than any manual extraction method. In a research paper "Evaluating and comparing web scraping tools and techniques for data collection," well-configured data scrapers have extracted significant amounts of information in minutes – a feat that took manual extractors more than a few hours.

Web scraping challenges

While the process of data extraction is simple, not every parsing tool fits the website structure of your target. If we are strictly speaking about downloading and structuring information, parsing requires the most attention, with the implementation of different parsers and custom adjustments to fit all targets.

However, as the topic suggests, the biggest challenges in web scraping come from difficulties in maintaining constant access to the most valuable public data sources. Below are the main web scraping challenges that ruin data collection efforts when bots are not protected with residential proxies:

Rate limiting on popular websites

Social media sites, search engines, retailers, and other popular pages enforce rate limits to stop aggressive connection requests that are typically associated with mild cyberattacks. Also, the owners of these platforms understand the intent of web scrapers. Even with an ethical approach that only extracts public information, automated bots negatively affect the performance of a web server without giving anything in return. A real human visit is more beneficial, as it at least gives the other party data about user behavior and interactions.

Without residential proxies, the party deploying web scraping bots has no chance of efficient data extraction. Even if you only use one data scraper, the recipients will notice the accelerated delivery of connection requests from one IP address. If you are lucky, access to the site will be restored after a timeout, but many aggressive scrapers eventually end up with an IP ban.

Scraping geo-restricted websites

Without internet privacy tools, your web connections obtain a public IP address leased by your internet service provider (ISP). For example, you can check your IP by visiting showmyip.com or another testing website to see what other data is stored in your identity. Most importantly, your public IP exposes your approximate location and your ISP.

If you attempt scraping websites that do not accept traffic from your location, or vice-versa – if your government enforces restrictions through the ISP, web scrapers will not get access to the site. However, if your web traffic is routed through a residential proxy server located in a region with unobstructed access to your target, these restrictions can simply be ignored.

Web scraping scalability

When data collection efforts start showing results, everyone is focused on their amplification. Web scraping scalability focuses on adding additional instances of data scraping bots and other tools to target multiple targets or even ensure continuous extraction from many sources.

However, as we already discussed, most valuable data sources find and block any scraper, and the likelihood of detection from having more increases tenfold. With residential proxies, you get access to a large fleet of IP addresses, which means you can assign a different one for each scraper, eliminating the risk of detection for even the biggest scraping tasks.

Residential proxy implementation: a step-by-step guide

Anyone can start using proxy servers, as they are easy to set up and require minimal technical skills for effective use. To begin implementing proxies, follow these steps:

1. Find a reputable provider. The proxy market is full of strong players. To pick the best ones, check out the annual proxy market research with detailed comments, tips, and test results from experts at Proxyway.
2. Set up your proxy. This can be done in your computer's proxy settings or via a browser extension.
3. Customize your server with additional features. For web scrapers, there is no better tool than a proxy rotation option. By setting up changes at predetermined intervals, your IP addresses will keep rotating, and one identity will never get caught by rate limiters.

Residential proxy benefits for web scraping

In 2023, data scientists cannot collect data effectively without proxy servers or other internet privacy tools. Here are the main reasons why residential proxies are the supreme partner for any data collection efforts

Anonymity

Residential proxy addresses come from millions of devices all over the world, which are shared with users connected to their ISPs. Unlike other proxy types, these servers bear the closest resemblance to organic user traffic.

Abundance

Compared to datacenter proxies, mobile proxies, and even Virtual Private Networks (VPN), residential proxies have the biggest IP pools while maintaining a high level of secrecy. The abundance of servers is perfect for data scraping because users can assign multiple addresses for one bot to avoid detection or start using more scrapers without attracting negative attention. Last but not least: the abundance of servers in all countries makes the proxy service available in any location, giving you a reliable web access point to avoid internet censorship.

Compliance

Proxy server use, especially the abuse of public proxies, is often associated with cyberattacks or connections with malicious intent. However, the undeniable value of quality residential proxies and compliance with legitimate proxy providers are the aspects that transformed the reputation of this service. With a good provider on your side, you can collect public data from the most valuable sources, ultimately enabling data-driven insights while respecting legal and ethical boundaries.

Summary

Even when we focus on the use of proxies for data scraping, the descriptions of the main benefits of residential proxies have already spilling over into other niches. With a good deal from your chosen partner, you can use thousands of addresses at the same time. Once all data scrapers are protected, feel free to enhance other activities and niches with private and anonymous connections.

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