Backconnect Proxies: Everything you need to know

IP addresses are internet privacy headaches. Thus, a proxy is a crucial tool for private browsing sessions, accessing geo-restricted content, and data collection tasks like web scraping. Regular residential proxies do a great job of making it easy to complete these tasks. Backconnect proxies do it even better, especially if you must carry out large-scale projects requiring multiple IP addresses. In this article, we discuss everything you need to know about backconnect proxies — from how they work to the pros and cons of using them.

What are Backconnect Proxies?

A backconnect proxy is defined as a server containing a set of regular proxies that are engaged every time a request is made. Proxies are regularly and automatically shuffled so that on each request, a different IP address is sent to the website to collect the public information requested. Your masked IP address passes through a different proxy on every request. In this case, it is harder for a target website to detect your web scraping activity.

How Backconnect Proxies work

They connect you to a proxy provider’s load-balancing server. The server then selects an IP address that meets your requirements from a pool of available proxies. The gateway never changes, even when the IPs behind it do. As a result, you can use multiple IPs through one address without managing them yourself – everything is done in the backend.

Depending on the provider, you can manipulate the address to change the server’s parameters. For example, changing the port number can give you IPs from different locations, or you can add information to the username to change the rotation settings.

Due to the logistics involved, most backconnect proxy pools are shared between users. That said, it may be possible for demanding clients to receive dedicated backconnect proxy pools.

Why Backconnect Proxies?

Originally, backconnect proxies were designed to provide you with access to search engines that temporarily or permanently block your account and IP address. Using a backconnect proxy server eliminates the chance of your IP address being blocked.

Backconnect proxies ensure that IP addresses rotate automatically whenever a request is made or at a predetermined time each day. It is through the rotation of IP addresses that your original IP address is masked, and your geographic location is spoofed, which makes it difficult for web administrators to track and block your IP address. You can also anonymously scrape data with it.

Typically, these proxies are configured to handle client requests under local administrator control. As a result, the server will forward these requests to resources beyond the administrator’s control.

Some advantages

• Time-saving rotations. One of the top backconnect proxies’ benefits is their ability to save you time through their smart and advanced IP rotating mechanism. By automatically applying a new IP for each session, you can have a range of IPs every minute without any manual involvement from your side. All of that results in hours of saved time on your part.
• No more rate limits. Another advantage of backconnect proxies that makes them ideal proxies for scraping is overriding the rate limits. A rate limit defines how many times a request from a single IP can be satisfied by a certain site. With a new IP granted each session, you do not have a problem with rate limits while performing our online missions.
• Improved anonymity. Using it for web scraping is also justified by the fact that some websites may ban unmasked IPs. With backconnect proxies, you should not worry about this, since they have a higher anonymity level while performing their primary function related to scraping.
• Increased security. Backconnect proxies can help you reduce the risk of any malicious software impact on your machine. If your IP is targeted and there is a rotating proxy between you and the target site, the risk of affecting your online privacy will be minimized.

Some disadvantages

• Increases budget

Backconnect proxy servers are much more expensive than regular proxy. Since Backconnect proxies offer better anonymity, security, and no rate limits, many providers ask you to pay extra for them.

Backconnect proxy service is a great choice for web scraping but might be overkill for regular web browsing. So do your research based on your budget and need.

• Might be slow

Backconnect proxy servers are collections of varying proxy servers and each with different quality. Some connections will be fast, some will be slow, and some might be banned by the service you’re trying to access. You have very little ability to control them

Sometimes your request delivery time can lag. This may be because of the location gap between your proxy server and the target website server. To illustrate, your target website might be in Britain, and you use a backconnect proxy from Australia.

Your request will travel back and forth between those two locations before you can get a response. You can solve this by choosing Backconnect proxy servers closer to your actual location or servers of target websites.

Backconnect Proxy use cases

The main use case of a backconnect proxy comes from its ability to send millions of requests from a swarm of IPs. When your task is to conduct scraping of a proxy-sensitive search engine like Google or e-stores like Amazon you can easily exceed the rate limit (number of requests allowed from one particular IP) of any of these sites, raising a red flag and ending up with a captcha.

So, with every new connection coming from a new IP you do not have to worry about getting banned and not completing your web scraping mission.

Backconnect proxies will be your first choice in all request-intensive web scraping-related missions (and you can easily use proxies from Germany for German markets while operating from the USA). Companies from the marketing sector use them for tracking ad placements of their customers versus the competition, gaining information on online reviews from marketplaces, gathering sales intelligence, and many more.

All cases where you are likely will get banned on a website for sending consecutive requests from a single IP are perfectly resolved by using backconnect proxies.

Conclusion

So far, we have discussed how backconnect proxies work, their benefits, and their drawbacks. Regular residential proxies will mostly suffice for regular internet users. Nevertheless, backconnect proxy servers are better options for users who want to carry out large-scale projects like social media automation, web scraping, and likes.