Do VPNs Provide SEO Benefits?  

Are you an SEO professional frustrated by access issues, firewalls that block your legal efforts to extract data, and the general feeling you cannot access exactly what you need? You’ve probably heard that a Virtual Private Network (VPN) can help bypass these issues and enhance your overall productivity. You’ve likely also heard they offer a wide range of benefits involving security, speed, anonymity, and cost-effectiveness.

So is this true, and if so, what exactly are the benefits a VPN offers? Most importantly, are these benefits worth the costs you would have to pay, whether monetary or in terms of changing your procedures? Let’s find out.

VPNs Change your IP Address for you

The single most important thing a VPN will do for you is to change your IP Address automatically. The simple act of connecting to one obfuscates your IP, and the VPN constantly changes it for you. This is done seamlessly while you go about your work and is extremely important for SEO practitioners in ways that will surprise you.

Better Access for Search Results Overseas

When querying search words, you are generally allowed to access only servers originating in your country. If you are trying to understand the performance of search terms in other countries, you will only see how they have been searched in the country where you reside.

For instance, you may be in the United States interested in terms that are related to China. You will only be able to see how Americans are searching for these terms, not how they are approached in China. Using a VPN will allow you to bypass geolocation and learn exactly how people are searching in other countries. And if you choose the right VPNs, you will be able to search in restricted countries like China or the United Arab Emirates.

By the same token, you may want to understand how people in other countries engage the products, brands or concepts you are representing. If you are trying to target a product to German, it would be better to see how people there are searching for similar items, then do it only through US servers.

Bypass the Google reCAPTHCA Wall

The process of SEO often requires repetitive searches to make proper comparisons and to track performance. Google is not a fan of similar searches coming out of the same place over a short period of time. If Google flags you for this, they will direct you to their reCaptcha page, forcing you to prove you are a human. If you continue searching in this way, you will continually be forced back to the reCapthca page.

While it is not hard to jump through this hoop from Google, it can slow productivity to nearly a halt. Using a VPN will allow you to randomize your IP address, so Google does not see your searches coming from a single location. This will save you time and frustration.

Protect your Data

Successful SEO practitioners collect and analyze data constantly to find new ways to get ahead of the competition. Your competitors are doing the same thing, and are not above hacking into your system learn what you know. One of the most direct methods to do this is to trace your IP address.

If you want to stay ahead of the competition and keep them as far away from your data and plans as possible, a VPN will block this primary access point. They cannot breach your security if they cannot find you.

Similarly, search engines may blacklist you if they believe you are buying backlinks or otherwise trying to unfairly game the system. It doesn’t matter to them if you are innocent, they hold all the power. The primary way they track this type of traffic is through IPs.

Security on Public Networks

If you often travel or have a favorite coffee shop where you like to work, chances are, you use a public network to access the Internet. We all know public networks have few security features and hackers can easily use them to breach your device and steal your data. A VPN gives you the added security you need.

By encrypting your connections, a VPN will keep you safe from intrusions and protect all of the data you have on your devices. Hackers who find you won’t bother trying to get at your SEO data as well as your bank records, Social Security number, and other private personal data. There are easier, unprotected marks available.

Very Low Cost

VPNs offer big-time protection, at a miniscule cost. Most services offer inexpensive contracts if you sign on for a year or two. SurfShark, a solid VPN with a great reputation has one of the lowest costs. Their service packages start as low as $1.99/mth. You won’t even have to give up a cup of coffee to make that fit your budget. And of course, the ROI here – Risk of Inactivity – is certainly far more costly.

Better Protection than Proxy Servers

What about Proxy servers? Don’t they do the same thing?

Proxy servers have been around for a while. They are good at doing what they do, but they lack critical security features that are intrinsic to VPNs.

A proxy server is an online service that randomizes and hides your IP address. While it can conceal your online presence, they provide no encryption factors for your data. This means that any hacker who makes it through the meager security provided by a proxy server gets access to everything.

Proxy servers are good for simple obfuscation, but they can be tracked and cracked quite easily by professional hackers. They were designed for a simpler time when security needs were not as expansive. They can only protect your IP from one site at a time, which leaves them vulnerable to our interconnected Web. Again, it’s not just your SEO work they would leave open to hackers.

Whether you are looking to find better search data, avoid frustrating roadblocks in critical searching, or simply looking to keep your data private, a VPN is a must-have SEO tool.