Guides, Tutorials & Insights
Learn about residential proxies, web scraping, data collection strategies, and industry best practices from the Shifter team.
How Many Proxy IPs Do You Actually Need?
The most common question before buying proxies is also the wrong one. What matters is not how many IPs you have, but how your requests are spread across them.
Matt Brown · August 21, 2026 How to Measure Accurate Keyword Rankings at Scale
There is no single rank for a keyword. It shifts with location, login, and device. Here is how to pin those variables and track true rankings at scale.
James Meadow · August 19, 2026 Collecting Web Data for AI and LLM Training with Residential Proxies
Building a training or eval corpus means crawling the web at scale, across regions, without getting blocked. Here is where residential proxies fit.
James Meadow · August 16, 2026 How to Collect Crypto Exchange and Market Data with Residential Proxies
Crypto data collection hits per-IP rate limits, geo-restrictions, and 24/7 uptime demands. Here is how residential proxies handle all three.
Chris Collins · August 15, 2026 Proxy Network Alternatives: How to Actually Compare 22 Providers
A practical guide to comparing residential proxy alternatives on pool size, network spread, price per GB and real commitment. Measured figures for 22 providers.
Matt Brown · August 13, 2026 15 Residential Proxy Providers, Ranked on One Identical Test
Every major residential proxy network ranked on measured data: pool depth, network spread, price and response time, from one identical test. Full scores for 15 providers.
James Meadow · August 13, 2026 What Is an Antidetect Browser and How Residential Proxies Fit In
An antidetect browser gives each profile its own device fingerprint. But that is only half of identity, the IP is the other half, and the two must match.
Chris Collins · August 9, 2026 How to Rotate Residential Proxies in Scrapy with Custom Middleware
Scrapy sets the proxy via meta, but the Proxy-Authorization caching gotcha breaks rotation. A custom middleware that rotates identity and retries on blocks.
Chris Collins · August 8, 2026 How to Use Residential Proxies in Selenium (Including Authenticated Proxies)
Selenium sets the proxy host easily but has no built-in way to pass credentials. How to handle authenticated proxies with Selenium Wire, an extension, or CDP.
Chris Collins · August 7, 2026