My proxies don't appear to be working

If you are using proxies with URL Profiler, there are a number of things that could be causing them to fail.

Firstly, it is important to recognise when proxies are actually required. In most cases, you only need proxies to perform tasks such as Google Indexation checks and Duplicate Content checks.

You can use proxies for URL Scraping and HTTP status, but in most cases this is simply not necessary. It becomes necessary if you are profiling a lot of URLs from the same domain and the site in question has securty protocols that block repeated requests. You will know if this has happened because you will get 403 Forbidden errors.

Private, Anonymous Proxies

We recommend private, anonymous proxies from BuyProxies.org - select the option 'Dedicated Proxies.'

We have written a full, detailed guide which explains exactly how to use proxies with URL Profiler and how to get set up with BuyProxies.org.

Scrapebox have a handy proxy checker which allows you to check if your proxies are working properly. This is what good proxies look like:

For most of the uses within URL Profiler, you will need your proxies to pass both tests - anonymous means your IP is not revealed, and Google Test means the IP has not been banned by Google.

Authenticated Proxies

For your proxies to work with URL Profiler, they will need to be authenticated. You can either authenticate via IP address or username and password.

Read this proxy authentication guide, which explain how to set up authentication.

If your proxies are not authenticated, this is the response you'll get from a Scrapebox test:

If you get 407 errors (either in URL Profiler or Scrapebox), there is an authentication issue with your proxies.

You may need to authenticate your proxies for your local/server IP address, which you can typically do from the online portal of your proxy provider.

If you have proxies which are authenticated via username and password, the proxy format you need is as follows:

IP:PORT:USERNAME:PASSWORD (e.g. 123.212.12.124:8008:username:password)

Failed Proxies

If your proxies are properly authenticated, yet you are still experiencing issues with using them, it is likely that there is an issue with your proxies.

These are the typical issues you will see - connections refused or timed out, or 404 errors. If you experience connection failures like this, the best thing to do is contact your proxy provider and ask them to reboot your proxies.

If that fails, you probably want to consider getting a new proxy provider.