7 Common Mistakes When Using Proxies For Scraping Google

Web scraping, also called web crawling, is the way of collecting data from other sites. It is done by downloading and parsing the HTML code to take out the data of your need.

Well, if you are doing Google scraping, whether you were successful in it or failed to do so, you must have understood the importance of using dedicated proxies.

When doing Google scraping, proxies pays an important role, and they are a must for successful Google scraping projects. Some of them use proxies for web scraping, but they make common mistakes, and we don't want you to make these mistakes.

Here in our guide, we will discuss seven common mistakes when using proxies and the list of best of proxies for scraping google.

Scraping Without Using a Proxy Pool

When doing web scraping projects, it is advised to use a proxy pool. As one proxy can create several problems like geographical targeting options, crawling reliability, and the ability to make more requests simultaneously decreases remarkably.

You should look at various factors before buying a proxy pool for your scraping project. Have a look at them.

1. Number of Requests - Requests that will be made by you in an hour.
2. Type of IPs You Are Using - Residential, Mobile, or Data Center IPs 
3. Target Websites - Big Website with substantial anti-bot assistance need a large proxy pool
4. IPs Quality

Focusing on the above factors before buying a proxy pool and managing it efficiently can help in a successful scraping session.

Mismanagement of Proxy Pool

Buying the best Proxy Pool will not be enough to extract high-quality data. Managing the Proxy Pool efficiently can help in gathering useful data and avoids you from getting blocked from the site.   

Let's take a look at the best practices to manage Proxy Pool.

1. Control Proxies - Few web scraping projects need a session with the same proxy, which you can do by configuring it.
2. Identify Bans -  Your Proxy should be able to identify the bans, so troubleshooting becomes easy.
3.  User-Agents - You need to manage user-agents for healthy crawling.
4. Geographical Targeting Option - Some projects require the use of a few proxies on a site that can be done by configuring the proxy pool.
5. Add Delays - Adding delays can hide the truth that you are doing scraping.
6. Retry Errors - If you find an error while scraping, you need to retry with another proxy.

Use of Free Proxy for Scraping Google

The use of a free proxy for scraping google can become a nightmare for you. 

Let me tell you the reasons.

1. Free Proxies are publicly available and are not safe.
2. These proxies don't have an HTTPS connection.
3. The free proxies can track your connection and hack your cookies.
4. Most of them contain malicious malware that can damage your system as well, and data can be at risk.
5. They are not as effective as compared to premium ones.

6.      If you are thinking of starting a scraping google project or you are using a free proxy, we suggest you invest some time and buy the best proxy servers which come from a trusted dealer.

Using the Identical Crawling Pattern

Web crawlers use the identical crawling pattern while scraping through a site or page. 

Websites with the high-level anti-crawling system can detect robots, crawlers, and spiders the same crawling pattern. These anti-crawling systems immediately block your proxy. As you know, humans don't perform the tasks repeatedly, so detection becomes convenient and a problem for the scraper like you.

Follow these simple tips to avoid this mistake.

1. Make mouse movements
2. Stay on the page and do random clicks

If you follow the above tips, your spider behavior will look like a human, and your proxy will not get blocked.

Missing the Trick of Headless Browsing

A browser that is without a graphical interface is called a headless browser. It provides you automated control of a site or page. There are two ways of executing a headless browser: one is the command-line interface, and the other is network communication.

Many headless browsers allow you to scrape high-quality content from web pages.

1. Selenium
2. Google's Headless Browser
3. Phantom JS

Above are some headless browser which can assist you in web scrapping. 

An important thing to remember is that they use potent computers for working on headless browsers as they consume a lot of RAM, bandwidth, and CPU. 

Jumping into Honeypot Trap

Some website designers place honeypots in their sites, which help in the detection and prevention of the attempts of gathering data from their site. Humans can't detect the Honeypot trap, but web spiders can do it.

Follow below tips to get rid of honeypot traps: -

1. Make sure that link is clearly visible
2. Honeypot trap links are written in CSS style display: none.
3. These links color blends with the background color of the site or page.

Detecting these traps by humans is not an easy task. If you want to protect yourself from it, you need some programming work to do. Also, keep in mind the honeypot trap is not used by many website designers. 

Exceeding the Request Limit

All websites are loaded on servers that have a specific limit of a load of visitors. You must not frequently send the requests to the same web page so that the target website's server doesn't get crashed. It is the ethical way of scrapping. Get your valuable data, and don't harm the target website.

You can prevent this by sending requests with 10 seconds delay. It will also help you from not getting blocked.

Final Thoughts

In our post, we addressed the seven common mistakes when using proxies for scraping Google. We have also given you the solution to each mistake so you can avoid it for successful scraping projects. Have a look at the best proxies and choose according to your need. 

If you still have any queries, you can ask us in the comment section. We will replay as soon as possible.