Proxy Rotation Best Practices for Web Scraping

Proxy rotation is essential for web scraping, but doing it wrong gets you blocked faster than not using proxies at all.

The Basics

Sticky vs Rotating

Sticky sessions keep the same IP for the duration of a session. Use when:

• You need to maintain login state
• The site tracks IP changes
• You're performing multi-step workflows

Rotating sessions change IP on each session. Use when:

• Scraping paginated content
• Making many requests to the same endpoint
• The site doesn't require session state

import { strike } from "cykani-stealth";

// Sticky — one IP for the whole session
const session = await strike({
  proxy: "http://user:pass@residential-proxy:8080",
});

Geographic Targeting

Single Country

const session = await strike({
  proxy: "http://user:pass@us-residential:8080",
});

Multi-Country Rotation

const proxies = [
  "http://user:pass@us-proxy:8080",
  "http://user:pass@uk-proxy:8080",
  "http://user:pass@de-proxy:8080",
];

for (const proxy of proxies) {
  const session = await strike({ proxy });
  await session.goto("https://example.com");
  await session.close();
}

Common Mistakes

1. Wrong Proxy Type

Use residential proxies for:

• Social media scraping
• E-commerce price monitoring
• Ad verification

Use datacenter proxies for:

• High-throughput scraping
• API testing
• Speed-critical tasks

2. Mismatched Fingerprint

If your proxy is in Japan but your browser fingerprint says "Windows US English", you get flagged.

const session = await strike({
  proxy: "http://user:pass@jp-proxy:8080",
  locale: "ja-JP",
  timezone: "Asia/Tokyo",
});

3. Too Fast

Even with rotating IPs, making requests too quickly triggers rate limits.

const session = await strike({ humor: true });

for (const url of urls) {
  await session.goto(url);
  await new Promise((r) => setTimeout(r, 2000 + Math.random() * 3000));
}

4. Not Handling Captchas

for (let attempt = 0; attempt < 3; attempt++) {
  const session = await strike({
    proxy: "http://user:pass@new-ip:8080",
  });

  await session.goto("https://example.com");
  // Check for captcha...
  // If detected, close and retry with new IP

  await session.close();
}

Performance Tips

1. Reuse sessions — Each launch has overhead
2. Close sessions promptly — Free up resources
3. Monitor IP reputation — Some IPs get flagged
4. Cache responses — Avoid unnecessary requests

Conclusion

Proxy rotation is not just about changing IPs. It's about maintaining consistency between your IP, fingerprint, and behavior. Get all three right, and you'll stay undetected.