Most of us already know that proxies are the safe gateway between most of us us and the Internet. Aside from protecting our data, they allow us to browse the Internet quickly and anonymously. What’s more, they enable access to all kinds of content without any restrictions.
Residential proxies are IP addresses that we get from a regional ISP (internet service provider). Each residential proxy is bound to one home connection only, hence the name. Therefore, this type of proxy’ IP is more genuine in comparison to others. That is mostly because their IP address is similar to those of regular home or business users.
Here are the best ways of using residential proxies. They apply to a variety of users, from casual to professional. Let’s start with the basics.
1. Anonymity, Security and Smooth Browsing
Since we get a residential proxy from an ISP, it is a completely legitimate IP address. Therefore, websites can hardly tell whether we are using a proxy or not. Residential proxies display real residential IP addresses from people like you and me. That’s why websites are less likely to block these IPs.
Not only do residential proxies provide us with anonymity, but they are also secure. For example, public proxy networks are often susceptible to abuse. As such, they may redirect us to malicious websites, hackers, and spammers. That may end in the theft of personal details or other important information. However, using residential proxies will protect our private credentials from any potential misuse.
Another advantage that comes with using residential proxies is fast, reliable browsing. In other words, there are no timeouts or connection errors. What’s more, speed should be of no concern to you if you use a residential proxy.
2. Accessing Geoblocked Content
We all know of an infamous YouTube message. It’s the one that informs you that a certain video is not available in your country
Usually, that is because the uploader had restricted the video’s availability. Aside from YouTube, other sites use geoblocking as well. Those include Netflix, Hulu, and Spotify, among others.
We can solve that problem by using residential proxies and changing our location. Therefore, the website will recognize us as US residents and grant us access to the desired content.
Sometimes, geoblocking doesn’t depend on a website, but on the country. In other words, the country we live in may forbid us from accessing certain websites. However, residential proxies can help us bypass that restriction, allowing us free access to all websites.
3. Taking Advantage of Online Deals
Given that we can change our current location by using a residential proxy, there are a few other location-related perks.
Travel booking sites, like Booking, often target certain deals at customers who live in specific regions. If we do not live in those regions, we won’t be able to take advantage of a lucrative travel deal. However, passionate travelers can save a lot of money by gaining access to geo-targeted deals. That is all thanks to residential proxies, of course.
Similarly, many clothing brands, such as Yeezy and Supreme New Yorkwill often make early releases available to a particular market (i.e., New York, L.A., Paris or London). If you want to be among the first to try on a new set of threads, residential proxies can help you.
4. Unlimited Instagram Accounts
Instagram limits users to five accounts per device. While that might seem like a lot, it’s actually not, especially for social media managers and businesses with several verticals. After all, there are more than a billion Instagram accounts. What’s more, a lot of marketers manage over a hundred of them with social media tools like Jarveeor FollowLiker. Residential proxies help you circumvent website limitations. Thus, the number of Instagram accounts one can manage is virtually endless.
Still, Instagram management via residential proxies can prove tricky at times. Namely, rotating residential proxies constantly change your IP. That may cause suspicion on Instagram’s side, resulting in the platform locking down on your accounts.
We’d like to note that it doesn’t always happen, but it’s better to be on the safe side. That’s why dedicated Instagram proxy IPs as those found on BestProxyProviders may be a better solution.
5. Automated Data Scraping
Last, but not least, let’s talk about data scraping. Many marketers and entrepreneurs use residential proxies to scrape data from Amazon or similar websites.
The residential proxy will hide the IP of a marketer’s scraper machine. Therefore, the website targeted for scraping will only see the requests as coming from different IP addresses (those of proxies servers). In other words, it is completely unaware of the scraping machine’s IP.
More importantly, the user who scrapes data can easily go past the rate limit of a specific website. Still, many sites use software that detects an overflow of requests coming from one IP. That overflow usually signals the use of automated access, such as data scraping. Because of that, the website will block all other requests for a certain period of time.
Residential proxies help us spread out our requests. As a result, the website won’t be overwhelmed, and will only see a few requests coming from each proxy. As a result, the scraping program can process a lot of data without any restrictions.
The Bottom Line on Using Residential Proxies
So far, we’ve covered the most popular uses of residential proxies. Some uses are fairly simple — accessing geoblocked content and bypassing site restrictions. However, others may be integral to marketing and social media management. To add to that, residential proxies are a great line of defense against online scams and fraudulent websites.
That being said, there is no wrong way to use residential proxies. What’s more, their versatility allows even the uninitiated to enjoy the wonders of the Internet without any limits.