Main Residential Proxies Usage Mistakes and How to Avoid Them

Whether you need to access geo-restricted content or scrape well-protected websites like social media, price aggregators, or any other eCommerce sites, residential proxies can help. This proxy type is considered highly anonymous and trustworthy, so people use it for personal and business needs.

However, this doesn’t mean you should go with residential proxies for any use case. Or that you should go with the first provider you find online. Many people make the same mistakes when it comes to residential proxies, so we’re going to help you avoid them.

Mistakes to Avoid When Using Residential Proxies

To help you avoid making some of the most common residential proxies usage mistakes, we’ll first explain what they are and how they work. Only then will you be able to understand the mistakes people make when using them.

What Are Residential Proxies?

Residential proxies are real users’ IP addresses assigned by real internet service providers. They function as an intermediary between you and the websites you want to visit, keeping your original IP address and location anonymous. This allows you to protect your online identity and perform your online tasks privately and securely .

Residential proxies are rotating by nature. In other words, your IP address can automatically change every time you make a new request or after a set period. This is why they are very difficult to detect and block. With that in mind, it’s only logical that they will be more expensive than datacenter proxies.

Most reputable providers have residential proxy pools that cover plenty of locations worldwide. This international availability makes them an excellent option for use cases that require precise location targeting. They are also great for activities that require high IP diversity, being part of large proxy pools.

Now that you know the basics of residential proxies, let’s examine the most common mistakes people make regarding their usage.

Not Knowing When to Use Residential Proxies

The first thing you need to know is whether you need residential proxies in the first place. Depending on your needs, there’s a chance that datacenter proxies, ISP proxies , or mobile proxies might be more suitable. Think about your use case and see if residential proxies are really the best choice. Let’s help you figure it out.

If you need proxies for scraping, consider your target and how much data you need to scrape. In case you’ve already tried scraping your target, consider what issues you encountered. If you’ve tried public proxies and succeeded in getting some data, you can probably go with datacenter proxies . However, if you got little to no data from your testing, the chances are that your target is more sophisticated in terms of blocking. In that case, you need residential proxies.

Another thing to consider when it comes to web scraping is whether you need raw data or some additional assets. In that case, you’ll consume more traffic, so using residential proxies will be a more expensive option. In cases like this, datacenter proxies can be a better choice for you.

Residential proxies are usually slower than datacenter proxies. Hence, they might not be ideal in situations where you need to gather fresh, real-time data. For optimal performance in your scraping projects, opt for premium proxy providers or specialized services like Crawlbase Smart Proxy , which offers IP rotation, custom geo-location, and access to over 200 million unique proxies.

But if you need to access a website or service that’s available only in a specific location, you better go with residential proxies. That’s because these proxies have the best location coverage, so you’ll most likely find an IP address from the location you need.

Using Both Residential and Datacenter Proxies

Some people think they don’t need to choose between residential and datacenter proxies, so they end up buying both proxy types. However, this is not a good idea because of cost-effectiveness and is therefore on our list of common residential proxies usage mistakes to avoid.

If you need to access or scrape protected websites or perform activities that require high IP diversity, you should go with residential proxies . These proxies are also great if you need proxies for one-time use. You can choose the cheapest plan you can get from the provider of your choice and make the project work.

For general browsing and other tasks that don’t require a high degree of anonymity and security but do require higher speeds, you can go with datacenter proxies. Using both types of proxies will only drain your budget, so it’s best to use the proxies that are better suited for your specific use case.

Choosing The Wrong Provider

With so many residential proxy providers on the market, choosing one can be challenging. This is why many people end up with unreliable residential proxies from shady providers, only to find out they don’t offer IPs from the location they need. Therefore, make sure you consider the following factors when looking for a suitable residential proxy provider:

• The proxy pool size – the more IPs in the pool, the better
• Location coverage – see if the provider offers IPs from the country, state, or city you need
• Proxy sourcing – make sure it offers ethically-sourced proxies

Final Thoughts

Residential proxies can be a great asset for your online experience or business, but only if you use them properly and get them from the right supplier. IPRoyal is a well-known residential proxy provider that offers a large ethically-sourced proxy pool with real users’ IPs from all around the world. This makes us one of the top players in the proxy industry and a great option to consider if you’re looking for reliable residential proxies!