Proxy for ScrapeBox: a beginner's guide
New to ScrapeBox? How proxies fit into its everyday checking jobs, why a small datacenter order is enough to learn on, and how to keep data costs down.
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ScrapeBox for beginners: what it does, proxy setup and the features to skip
In plain English, ScrapeBox is paid desktop software for Windows and Mac that runs SEO chores in bulk, like checking whether pages are online or whether a link to your site still exists. It's bought once and licensed for one computer. Proxies go into its proxy manager, either pasted in or loaded from a text file. Start with your own sites before checking anyone else's.
Entering proxies that need a login
If your proxies use a username and password, ScrapeBox treats them as private proxies and can test them with those details; with IP whitelisting, add your computer's public IP address to the whitelist first. Run the built-in proxy test before a job so dead entries don't waste time.
Skip the free-proxy harvester
ScrapeBox can gather free proxies from public lists, but nobody can tell you who runs those machines or what happens to your traffic. Paid proxies you control are safer, and datacenter addresses, which sit in commercial server halls, are the low-cost choice for checking jobs.
Features that cause trouble
Leave the comment poster alone: Google treats automated link building as spam, which can hurt the very site you're promoting. Harvesting Google's results breaks its policies too, and the email and Whois scrapers collect personal details that privacy laws may protect.
When jobs stall
Lower the number of connections, raise the timeout a little and re-test your proxies; the harvester's settings decide whether dead ones are retried or dropped. If every proxy fails at once, your login details or whitelisted home IP address have probably changed.
Quick start in three steps
Nothing to install. This is the whole route, from paying to the first page you load through the proxy.
Buy a small Datacenter plan
On the order form, pick a country, a protocol and a login method, then pay. At $2.49 per GB (gigabyte of data) it costs less than our other types, so a first test is cheap.
Paste it into the tool
Most tools have a proxy field or a list to paste into, often one proxy per line. Add a single proxy first and run one small task.
Check that it worked
Paste the details into our proxy checker: it shows whether the proxy answers and which IP address sites will see. The IP location lookup then tells you which country that address is in, and if anything looks wrong, the quick fixes further down cover the usual slips. Address right, but one site still turns you away? The last of the fixes below covers that.
Our pick for ScrapeBox: Datacenter
ScrapeBox is a desktop program for SEO jobs (search engine optimisation, or helping a site show up in search), such as checking whether links and pages still work. It opens many connections at the same time, and datacenter proxies handle that well for less per GB than our other types. Because you pay for data rather than per proxy, a small order is plenty for learning.
Made for large proxy lists
ScrapeBox spreads its connections across whatever list of proxies you give it. Guides often talk about huge lists, but those are for heavy users; a modest setup at low settings is plenty for learning. Here you're charged for the data you use, not for how many proxies sit in the list.
Built-in proxy testing
The proxy tester sends a small request through each proxy to see whether it answers. That uses a little data too: testing a short list costs next to nothing, while re-testing a long one many times a day adds up. Test before each job, not every few minutes.
Match threads to the pool
Threads are how many connections ScrapeBox runs at the same moment. Start low, watch the results, and raise the number slowly. Far more threads than proxies mainly produces failed checks and wasted data, and it puts needless strain on the sites you're checking.
Geo options for SERP work
SERP stands for search engine results page, and results differ by country. To see another country's results, search by hand in a browser with a proxy set to that country. Collecting results automatically is something search engines' rules don't allow, so leave that to their own tools.
What a proxy won't do here
It won't make a tool acceptable to a site or game that bans automation, and it can't stop them acting on an account the tool runs.
What people use it for
- ▸Checking backlinks to your own site
- ▸Confirming your own pages are online
- ▸Testing a proxy list before a job
- ▸Viewing local search results by hand
Which proxy type should I pick for ScrapeBox?
The usual rule is to start with the type that costs least and step up only when a site says no. Here, datacenter is enough to begin with.
| Type | Choose it when… | From, per GB |
|---|---|---|
| Datacenter Our pick for ScrapeBox | Cost matters most and the site is happy with addresses from server companies. Good for public pages and first experiments. | $2.49 |
| Residential | A site turns server addresses away, or you want to see it the way a local visitor does. The address belongs to a home broadband line. | $3.98 |
| Mobile 4G/5G | The service is built around phones, or you want to see it as someone on 4G or 5G would. The address comes from a phone network. | $4.98 |
| Residential Premium | Standard residential keeps being refused on one particular site. Hand-picked home addresses, at a higher price per GB. | $6.99 |
Choosing a country: Pick the country your task needs and keep each job in one country, so what the tool sees stays consistent from run to run. There are 55+ countries, and in major markets some types let you pick a city too. Browse locations
For the longer version, our proxy comparison walks through all four types.
What you need to add a proxy to your software
Wherever you set it up, you type in the same four details from your dashboard: the host (the proxy's address), the port (a number that tells the connection which door to use), a username and a password.
Inside an app, tool or script
Some apps and most automation tools have a proxy box of their own, which keeps the change to that one program. In code, the proxy is usually a single setting.
Two ways to log in to the proxy
- ▸Username and password. The
host:port:user:passdetails that browsers, apps and scripts ask for. - ▸IP whitelist. Add your own IP address to the list in your dashboard and connections from it need no password. Handy where there's nowhere to type one, such as Android's Wi-Fi proxy screen.
Which protocol?
A protocol is the language your device uses to talk to the proxy. Every proxy works over HTTP, HTTPS and SOCKS5; if an app asks for SOCKS5 by name, give it SOCKS5 details, and put HTTP details in an HTTP box.
Common slip-ups, and the quick fix for each
When something feels off on a first try, it's often one of these.
Logging in on a rotating address
Rotating means a new address for every request; sticky means one address kept for 1-30 minutes. Use sticky for anything you sign in to, or the site may log you out halfway through.
A slip in the proxy details
One wrong character in the host, port, username or password and nothing connects. Copy them again from your dashboard and try them in our proxy checker. Using the IP whitelist? Home IP addresses change now and then, so check yours with the IP checker and update the list.
Starting with a big run
Try one task on one proxy first and watch what happens. A mistake in a large run wastes data, and any accounts the tool uses can be limited.
A site keeps refusing the address
Some sites turn away addresses from server companies however gently you go. Retrying won't change that, so move just that site to residential.
Proxy not working when it arrives? Tell us within 24 hours of delivery and we'll swap it, or refund that part of the order if we can't (see the refund policy). Support answers 24/7 through the contact page.
Is a proxy for ScrapeBox allowed?
Using a proxy is legal in most countries (a few restrict them), so the question is what you do through it: stick to public information and your own accounts, at a sensible pace, within the service's terms and the law where you live.
Many sites and games ban bots and automation tools outright, so read the rules of whatever the tool touches before you start. Where automation is forbidden, running it through a proxy is still forbidden.
If personal data is involved, data-protection law applies as well, and no proxy can protect an account from a platform's own decisions.
Keeping the cost down
You pay for data by the GB, never for time, so set the proxy in the one browser or app that needs it and switch it off when you're done.
Start with a small order
Buy a little Datacenter data first, at $2.49 per GB, and try it where you need it. Top up once it works.
Use it within 30 days
Each order runs for 30 days from payment, and GB you haven't used don't carry over, so buy for the weeks ahead rather than the year.
Match the type to the site
Leave easy sites on datacenter and send only the stubborn ones through residential, mobile or premium. Mixing types keeps the bill small.
Delivered instantly · 99.9% uptime · no traffic logs · you pay the price on the live plan you choose
Questions beginners ask about ScrapeBox
Start small, then decide
Order a little Datacenter data, test it with our free tools, and buy more only once it does what you need.
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