Benefits of Using a Proxy

In today’s global market, e-commerce businesses need data in very large quantities to be able to make informed decisions that can promote growth and expansion, and such data can be found anywhere in the large frightening space of the internet, with web scraping proving to be the most effective way to collect these data.

However, the custodians of these data are not happy-sharers and will do anything to prevent data extraction. Luckily, we have proxies that can easily remove the obstacles set by these websites and make web scraping a much smoother experience.

 

What is a proxy?

A proxy can be defined as a gateway that operates on an application level and serves as the middleman between a computer and the target website. This gateway can act as an intermediary taking requests from a computer to a server and returning network responses to the computer.

Its role is vital, and it confers several benefits on both the computer and the target server, and we will look at some of these benefits briefly.

Besides, there are different categories of proxies, with each working in some unique fashion. Some of the categories include forward proxies, reverse or backward proxies, and open or public proxies.

 

How does proxy work?

As a business owner, your primary proxy of concern would be the forward proxy hence this explanation of how a proxy works is essentially an explanation of how a forward proxy works:

• All the devices in the world have unique sets of numbers that make up their internet protocol (IP) address.
• This means every device has its IP address.
• When a device sends out a connection request and routes it via a proxy, the proxy also takes the IP address of that device into consideration.
• Next, the proxy takes the sent request to the target website
• The proxy only releases the computer request to the web and not its IP address. Instead, the proxy approaches the target server with its IP addresses which it constantly changes on every request to prevent the website from discovering it is the same proxy making repeated requests.
• Then it receives the served response from the website and returns it to the device using the IP address.
• Lastly, the proxy may make changes to the request or encrypt the returning data. Regardless, the information is usually returned to the computer user in a readable format.

 

Main types of proxies

There are several types of proxies, but here we will consider only the most important ones:

1. HTTP Proxies: HTTP proxies are the type of proxies that can easily interpret network traffic and initiate multiple requests at once. They can also access cache files and web pages effortlessly and are therefore used for such purposes. However, there is usually no encryption for the returning data.
2. SSLProxies: These are essentially HTTP proxies but with better security. That means they take all the best parts of HTTP proxies and add a stronger security layer. Also, these proxies use the port known as TCP port 443 and are therefore less likely to be blocked.
3. SOCKS Proxies: These proxies are the opposite of HTTP proxies because they do not read or interpret computer requests but convey them as sent by the user to the target website. They are also known for their remarkable versatility as they can effortlessly handle multiple types of traffic with even greater security. However, they can be very slow due to overcrowding as they are now very popular amongst internet users.
4. Web Proxies: This type of proxies works basically on browsers. They are plug-and-go proxies that do not require extra installation and can come with varying degrees of security because they can work with HTTP or HTTPS. Sadly, they generally crash when accessing target websites with Flash scripts, JavaScript, or Java as they are not capable of reading or interpreting such complex languages.

 

Main benefits of using proxies

The benefits of using a proxy are numerous; however, here are the most important benefits:

• Unlocking geo-restricted contents

More often than not, businesses tend to need data from a certain location to make certain important business decisions, like a clothing company in the U.S. looking to make more sales in Hong Kong.

The U.S company then looking to extract useful data from target websites may be unable to do so if those target websites have placed geo-blocking on IPs coming from the U.S.

In a case like this one, the company would need to use a Hong Kong proxy to remove the geo-restrictions

• Improving security

This is also a major advantage of using proxies. Standing as intermediaries, proxies usually help to ensure that your IP address is always concealed. Hence, it is unlikely that hackers can see your IP address when you use proper proxies. Using the Hong Kong proxy as in the example above will not only grant the company access to restricted Hong Kong contents but will also protect the company’s computer IP addresses from hackers.

• Reducing server load

Proxies have a way of keeping caches when they access websites so that when next you request for the same information, they can display the response from the cache without necessarily bothering the target website. This benefits the target servers the most as they will not be required to do any work whenever proxies store caches.

 

Conclusion

Proxies are what you can call “middlemen.” They display a wide range of functions, including basic as taking individual requests from the computer to target websites to processes as complex as web scraping.

They also offer numerous benefits, including unlocking geo-restricted contents, boasting security, and reducing the workload on target servers.