To generate real momentum and achieve sustainable success in the digital age, businesses have no option but to leverage technology. This, of course, means going online and engaging with customers across digital channels in order to generate engagement and revenue. However, while this sounds relatively simple in theory, the reality is that gaining traction online is not always so easy.
Companies that choose to operate in the digital marketplace of today place themselves in a ruthlessly competitive environment. Under such circumstances, companies are striving to gain every possible advantage. Data collection and analysis have become the order of the day, and this brings its own challenges with it, with factors such as IP blocking causing many enterprises to stumble in the pursuit of market data. For this reason, an increasingly large contingent of businesses are using residential IP Proxies to change their IP addresses, and they are thriving as a result.
In this article, we’ll discuss what residential IP proxies are, what changing IPs does for companies, and how businesses can best leverage them to achieve success across digital channels.
Table of Contents
What is a residential IP proxy?
A residential IP proxy is a specific kind of proxy server. Proxy servers are servers that effectively operate as a middleman between a user and the sites they connect to. Proxies let users redirect their data via a device in another geographical location.
When users connect to the internet without a proxy, websites and ISPs can use IP tracking to identify them. By extension, these entities can also determine a user’s geographical location and apply restrictions on them, limiting their ability to access the web pages they wish to visit. Proxies, however, provide a way to deal with this by enabling users to browse under assumed IP addresses rather than their own.
The ‘residential’ aspect of a residential IP proxy sets it apart from other kinds of proxies, chiefly datacenter proxies. Residential proxies use IP addresses designated for use on private home networks. This means that they are affiliated with legitimate internet service providers, and are connected to physical devices in the proxy location. Datacenter IPs, on the other hand, are not associated with any ISP and frequently utilize cloud servers instead of actual devices.
The nature of residential IPs means that they are significantly less likely to get blocked than other kinds of proxy IPs. Moreover, residential proxies enable users to rotate IPs so that they can quickly circumvent blockages in the event that they do occur. As such, they are the go-to option for companies around the world.
How do companies leverage residential IP proxies?
When operating online, companies can leverage residential IP proxies to their advantage in a variety of different ways. These include the following:
- Web scraping
One of the most important parts of staying competitive in the digital marketplace is understanding what rival companies are doing. This means engaging in a process known as web scraping, which involves collecting vast amounts of publicly available information from websites by sending a high volume of site requests within a short timeframe. Ordinarily, this would cause a company’s IP to be blocked, as many businesses have anti-scraping measures in place on their sites to fend off competitors. By rotating residential IPs however, IP blocking becomes immaterial, so companies can gather all the data they need.
- Data analysis
When companies have gathered all of the information they require, residential IPs can enable them to perform effective data analysis. As was mentioned previously, geo-blocking can restrict a company’s ability to access certain sites or content online, and this can make it difficult to put certain data points in the proper context. With residential IPs, however, companies can bypass such barriers and glean deeper, more impactful insights from the data they have collected.
- Market research
Aside from understanding competitor behavior, companies must also have a solid comprehension of the priorities of their target audiences. This can be difficult when locational factors play a role in what search engines turn up. With a residential IP, though, companies can change their IP and location so as to better understand the perspective of consumers in their target region. This enables them to come up with more coherent and insightful marketing strategies that resonate with consumers and generate greater brand awareness and engagement.
Concluding
For a company to have real success in the modern digital space, they need to leverage data to gain every advantage possible. ISPs can make this difficult, but residential IPs give provide a convenient solution. By making it possible to change and rotate IP addresses, residential IP proxies allow companies to combine effective web scraping with thorough analysis and market research, giving them the platform they need to stay ahead of the curve and achieve sustainable success.
