UPDATED - Proxies, are they needed and why would I use them?

[jimbobo2779]

What is a proxy and why are they useful?
A proxy is simply a middle man for internet requests. When you request a webpage without a proxy you contact the webserver and ask for that page and it sends it back to you, the server then knows your IP address which is like a physical address that can be used to track your access on that website.

When you use a proxy to request a webpage you send your webpage request to the proxy and then it is the one to request the webpage, the webserver will then return the webpage to th eproxy which then sends it back to you. This way the website doesn't ever see your IP address and cannot attribute the webpage request to you.

Proxies essentially hide your identity from the websites you visit, this is especially helpful when trying to harvest lots of targets from search engines.

What is the difference between public and private proxies?
Private proxies are proxies that are bought / rented from a proxy provider and generally will come with few to no limitations on their use. In the majority of cases private proxies will be completely anonymous and will not send your IP when posting.

Public proxies are often scraped from publically viewable websites or downloaded from websites, they are nearly always being used and abused by many different users and are not guaranteed to provide any amount of uptime. Often a public proxy will not stay live for more than a few minutes to a couple of hours as well as be slow and may not even keep you anonymous while posting which completely negates the reason for using proxies in the first place.

I would never advise anyone ever use public proxies of any kind for posting with NHSEO as you will see lower than expected results but for searching they are a must.

When are proxies needed?
Proxies should be entered for searching, these can be public proxies but if you are using public proxies for searching ensure that the list is checked and updated regularly to ensure your proxies are working correctly.

Proxies are also needed when limiting by PR as Google only allows a certain number of PR requests from a given IP within a short time.

When used with custom comments will likely improve your approval rate
If you are experienced in blog commenting you can increase your approval rate by using your own custom comments coupled with good private proxies for posting. Using private proxies may help to avoid filters such as akismet and the custom comments may help your comments to appear more natural and user submitted rather than auto submitted. If your comments look more natural they are more likely to be accepted.

UPDATE:
How to use the new proxy controls
As the use of proxies is now advised for searching there have been some new controls added that allow the use of third party proxy searching tools such as Proxy Goblin, Proxy Multiple and QProx.

To use these tools follow these instructions:
1) Ensure that you output your proxies to a file that is always accessible by No Hands SEO, the implementation of this will vary depending on your application but should be very simple, ensure that the file name and location stays consistent.
2) Go into NHSEO proxy settings tab and click on the corresponding Browse button
3) Select the file that contains your proxy list
4) Check the option for "Continually Update Proxies From File?"
5) Click the Save Button

I will start to research some proxy providers when I get chance but for the time being if you have any suggestions on proxy providers to look at I would appreciate a heads up on who you would or wouldn't advise and why.

[stevegiles]

Hi Jim, Firstly thank you for processing my refund so prompltly and please accept my apologies for posting the comment on Warrior Forum. I wasn't aware of this forum at the time.

I noticed that Proxy Goblin is not providing proxies for No Hands SEO, as I already have that installed can you please advise how it will work with No Hands SEO.

Kind Regards,

Steve

[jimbobo2779]

To be honest I am not overly sure of how Proxy Goblin integrates with NHSEO. You may be as well to ask them for support as my experience with public proxies harvested iwth any tool hasn't been positive.

I will enquire with the guys at Proxy Goblin and maybe post about it in this section to show people how to use the two tools together.

[stevegiles]

Hi Jim, This is the message that I received from Proxy Scraper about this subject.

Steve


John Ashwin Christos, Jan-05 15:35 (WST):
Hi Steven,

Check out this vid mate:
http://molura.zendesk.com/entries/20669 ... oxy-goblin


It's for WPSBox pro, but the concepts are exactly the same for NOHS.

Cheers,
Ash, Developer

[jimbobo2779]

Cheers mate

[TheEditor]

Wow. That's pretty cool. Still looks like public proxies to me. Not sure that's a smart way to go even if the scraper runs frequently. But it sure is a cool concept. And I'd never heard of WPsBox. Its a double hit to my "ooh! Shiny!" reflex.

[Stevie]

I always use public proxies, I use an application made by a blackhatter from bhs, the app is called QProx.

Not trying to plug QProx here, just thought it may help some people.

[daver]

Does NHSEO support private proxies in the format:

173.xxx.xxx.xxx:55555:username:password

?

thanks,
daver

[jimbobo2779]

Yes it does. If you are ever not sure of what input a particular control accepts or what that control does simply hover over it and you will see it pops up with a brief description and often accepted input.

[Nakato]

HI, I just wanted to clarify one issue that might be of great importance for everybody.


Do we have to somehow limit active threads depending on the number of proxies we have ? I ask because SB suggests to use no more than 10% - 20% at once. For example if I have 10 private proxies, in SB I have to limit connections to 1 or 2. Is this the same for NHSeo?