One of the biggest mistakes some webmasters make is not using proxy servers or VPN software. For the most part, SEOs generally tend to get this wrong. Also, connecting from external IP addresses to your website as well as to perform market research is very useful and will help to give you lots of additional information you may never have known about.
Google Ads Example
For example, you could be a Google Ads agency. Your customer is based in the Netherlands, but your company is based in Finland. Let’s say the customer is targeting users in Amsterdam for their Google Ad campaign and they want you to make sure you get them the best position possible for their bidding budget. How are you going to know if the Ads are showing aside from Google Ads console?
The Google Ads will be geo-restricted to only show in Amsterdam. Therefore, any searches from Finland, even using Dutch language, will not show up in Finland.
However, if your company has a proxy in Amsterdam or VPN software that has a server in Amsterdam, then you will be able to log on to that server. Now you are connected to Amsterdam from Finland, you will be able to type in the search terms and the Google Ads should begin to show.
You can confirm both on the Google Ads console and by using your proxy/VPN software that Ads are running and the average position the Ads are showing for your customer. Check out yksityisyyden suoja internetissä for more information about VPN software in Finland.
Using Proxies and VPNs For SEOs
One of the most annoying parts to SEO is ranking reports. Rankings go up and down all the time. You have just sent a ranking report to your customer and within the same time it took you to send the email, the results have all moved around slightly.
The other problem most webmasters have is finding a tool that will provide accurate SEO rankings. Even though many tools allow you to set the location of where you would like it to track your keywords, the ranking shown on the software compared to real life rankings from the location you are sitting can be very different.
VPNs and proxy servers can help you with this; especially for those that are running SEO agencies and have customers all over the world. VPN software can be useful if the software provider has plenty of servers in cities around the world. You can then manually check the SEO results for your customer or ask to create a VPN connection to their machine so you can check from their machine.
Another good wat around this is to use a good software provider like SEO Powersuite’s Rank Tracker. This tool allows you to create projects that will check rankings locally. You can configure the software down to a small town thanks to its very granular geo location tool built into the software. As an added measure, you can also log on to a VPN server in the location your client is trying to rank and run the Rank Tracker reports from there. This gives you added accuracy and piece of mind.