Why Proxy Servers Are Necessary for Web Scraping

Basics of Web Scraping Using Proxy Servers

What is a Proxy Server?

A proxy server acts as an intermediary between end users and the internet/websites. Essentially, it serves as a gateway, allowing users to access web pages without using their own IP address.

When a user connects to the internet through a computer, they identify themselves using a unique address called an IP address. When using a proxy server instead of a direct connection to the internet, the connection is redirected through the proxy server, which manages requests/traffic before visiting the website on your behalf using its own IP address.

The main reasons for using proxy servers are to ensure internet security, balance internet traffic load, or provide privacy.

Now that you understand what a proxy is, let's find out why it is important for web scraping.

Why Do You Need a Proxy for Web Scraping?

Sending traffic from a single IP address to a website in a very fast sequence looks like an attack from the webmaster's perspective. Therefore, websites always have rules to block, limit, or ban IP addresses that are supposedly attacking their site. Proxy servers are the simplest way to manage such traffic. Proxy servers can be used to distribute requests and scrape anonymously.

For small-scale web scraping, proxy servers are not particularly necessary. But if your web scraping requirements have additional complexity, such as requiring data from specific geographic regions or high performance, using proxy servers is mandatory.

What Types of Proxy Servers Are There

For web scraping, there are several types of proxy servers designed for different use cases

• Datacenter proxy servers: These are the simplest proxy servers. They are cheap, fast, and reliable, but they are the easiest to detect.
• Residential proxy servers: They use real users' devices and a huge pool of IP addresses. They are very hard to detect, but very expensive, slow, and unreliable because the user may lose internet connection or turn off their devices.
• Specialized proxies: They are designed for specific purposes, such as Google search results pages or social media sites.
• Mobile proxies: They use IP addresses of real mobile devices. Mobile devices generally gain more trust from websites because the likelihood that the user is human is very high.

What Are the Benefits of Using Proxy Servers for Web Scraping?

Check out some benefits of using proxy servers for web scraping.

• Anonymous browsing. Due to the nature of web scraping, you likely do not want to reveal your device's identifying information. If a website identifies your identity, you may receive advertisements, your personal data via IP address may be tracked, or you may even be blocked from visiting the site. Using a proxy allows you to use the proxy server's IP address instead of your own.
• Preventing IP bans/blocking. Another benefit of using a proxy server is preventing your IP address from being blocked. Modern websites typically set limits on the amount of data obtained through crawling and other bot protection measures. They prevent scrapers from making excessive requests to their sites. However, using a pool of proxy servers to route traffic through multiple IP addresses allows you to avoid such restrictions.
• Access to location-specific data. Some websites do not allow visitors from other regions. They deliver region-specific content by showing it only based on your IP address location. By using a proxy from the required region, you can access that content. A common example in e-commerce is obtaining price data in different currencies.
• Assistance with large-scale scraping. For large-scale scraping projects where the time required to obtain data from a site is critical, using proxy servers is the best scraping method. Using a large pool of proxy servers allows you to do things like run parallel sessions, which increases data collection speed.

How to Get a Proxy Server?

To set up a proxy server, you have two options

• Set up a proxy server yourself: If you have configuration skills, this gives the most control as you can customize it to your business requirements.
• Use a proxy server provider: a simpler option is to outsource this task to a specialized company that focuses on this field.