Any website that you visit can identify your device's IP address and the location you are browsing from. If you are not comfortable with your location being visible to website providers, you can use a proxy to deceive the websites that you are in a different location.
The proxy will not only change your location but also hide your IP address, thus making you anonymous to the websites you visit. You can choose for the fake location to be chosen randomly by the proxy service provider. Alternatively, you can pick the specific country or city that you want as your false location.
Before delving deeper into changing the location of your browser, let's first explore a little about proxies and how they are used.
What are IPs and proxies?
Internet service providers assign a unique number to each device's network. This number is known as an Internet Protocol (IP address) and is like your device's digital identification number. Typically, the sites you visit and some surveillance tools can identify your device and location using the IP address.
A proxy helps you hide your IP so that websites, surveillance tools, and even some bots can't identify or track your browser. The proxy server presents its own IP address when you are online while masking your real one. If, for example, a website had blocked your IP address, it will not identify your browser if you are using a proxy and thus will let you browse.
How proxies are used to change location
Using a proxy to change your location is a very easy and straightforward process. You will just need to talk to your proxy supplier and indicate that you want proxy IPs for a particular region or location.
If they have proxies for that location, they will give you a set of proxy IPs with instructions on how to integrate it with your browser. From then, every time you browse using the proxy, your browsers will only show the IP address(s) that you were allocated by the proxy supplier. Your real IP remains hidden.
You should always shop for high-quality proxies. Some may appear to be cheap only for them to include an IP address, not from the location you chose. Or you're connected to an unreliable server that disconnects randomly, thereby messing your entire operation.
Reasons for using proxies to hide IP and change location
If you want privacy and anonymity online, all you need is to hide your IP address.
But why would you need to change your location and even to a specific country or city?
â— Market research
Let's say you want to introduce your products or services to Thailand. To do the market research, you decide to access the local Thailand websites dealing in the same product and mine the data you need.
Unfortunately, some of the websites have been set to deny access from foreign websites. If you proceed with the market research as is, you will end with incomplete data, and the resultant analysis will be flawed.
Instead, you can get Thailand proxies that hide your real IP and indicate your browser as based in Thailand. This allows you to access the sites that would have blocked you and scrape complete data.
â— Access geo-specific services and products
Some businesses also sell their products in specific locations only and don't allow browsers from outside that region to access their business sites or purchase the product. You can use the same process as above to deceive the website that you are from that region and purchase the products.
You can actually create and grow your business using this approach.
- Identify a region where a certain product is cheaper, such as Malaysia.
- Using an IP address from that region, access the local sites, and purchase several units of the said product.
- Ship the products to your home region and sell the items for a higher price
â— To test run a website or app
When you create a website or app, you need to make sure it is accessible and operates well in different regions of the target area. You can use proxies from different locations when testing the app or site while accessing its performance. If any regions are not compatible with the app or website, you will be able to identify those hitches when you use proxies from those regions.
In conclusion...
Changing your device's IP address and location when browsing gives you the privacy you need. The proxies also protect you from some surveillance tools, thus enhancing your business's cybersecurity.
You need, however, to be extra careful when choosing your proxy service provider. Some will offer you free or cheap proxies but then start using the access you've given them to mine data from your site. To avoid exposing your business's sensitive data like this, always procure proxy services from reliable proxy service providers.