Proxy servers are a heaven sent solution to those of us who are power users of the Internet. They enable Web surfers to have their cake and eat it as well by negating some of the potential dangers inherent in Internet use. Every computer has an IP address, like a postal address of your home. Every site you visit can see your IP address, get information about you and see where you are surfing form. What proxy does is change the IP address of your computer, and can also change it to be geo targeted.

Following are five of the most common uses of proxy servers:

1. Protect Privacy – the loss of privacy when using the Internet is perhaps its biggest drawback. But imagine being able to surf to your heart’s content without being detected. Wouldn’t it be fun to not be targeted by advertising due to the fact that Big Brother does not know your true IP address and cannot bombard with annoying and irrelevant advertising? A proxy service is the perfect solution to maintaining your privacy whilst online.
2. Check Competition Online – if you have a blog than any advantage you can glean from your competitors is important. Ditto even if you have a corporate website and want to keep tabs on your competitors. However, just as you are monitoring your competition, rest assured that your competition is monitoring you. When you use a proxy to surf though, your competitors don’t know who is really checking them out, enabling you to do so at your leisure. Also you can check your keywords and see how they rank around the globe.
3. Checking Competitors International Strategies – use a proxy to see what your competitors are doing in different foreign markets. Using your own IP address, the server will be able to determine which country you are looking to access data from and respond accordingly. Using a proxy from the country you want to check returns localized results saving you time, money, and providing relevant information.
4. Geo-targeted Advertising – when formulating an online marketing and advertising campaign, unless you have plenty of money to spare, it is almost prohibitive to adapt campaigns for different countries and go to each country to test them. Using a geographically targeted proxy though, you can do your market research from home in a virtual manner, saving you time and money.
5. Access Foreign Data – some sites are configured not to stream data or even give full access to foreign IP addresses. Using a proxy, the site does not know where the query really emanates from and will provide the information requested. For example there are YouTube videos that aren’t available in every country, and via proxy you can access any all of them.

Basic proxy services are often freely available with a compulsory advertising component, and for higher standards there are premium proxy services available that don’t have any advertising and with the ability to determine the geographic location.

Sharon is a passionate tech writer who believes that sharing is caring and loves to share her tips and knowledge with the world.