SEO teams use proxies to see pages, prices and redirects the way people in other countries and cities see them. Google's own rules count automated rank-checking queries as spam traffic unless Google gives express permission, and its robots.txt disallows its results pages. The official search APIs are closing too: Bing's retired on August 11, 2025, and Google's Custom Search JSON API ends on January 1, 2027. For the location checks a site allows, residential traffic with city targeting cost $0.49 to $3.54 per GB at about 100 GB a month. We read those prices on each seller's page on October 26, 2026. Our Premium pool targets state, city and ASN from $1.49/GB.
The sections below set out Google's rules first, then what a proxy changes. The last sections cover how Google decides a searcher's location and which residential proxies fit SEO checks.
Does Google allow rank tracking through proxies?
Not without its permission. Google's spam policies, updated August 28, 2026, define machine-generated traffic as "sending automated queries to Google". They add that this includes "scraping results for rank-checking purposes". It also covers other automated access to Google Search "conducted without express permission".
Google's robots.txt says the same to crawlers. For every user agent, it disallows /search and allows only a few pages about how search works.
Google has also enforced the rule. In January 2025, Search Engine Journal reported that Google "cracked down on web scrapers that harvest search results data". That crackdown caused outages at rank tracking tools such as Semrush.
A proxy changes where a query comes from. It grants no permission, and the risk of breaking a site's rules stays with whoever sends the queries. If your work depends on Google's ranking data, read the terms of the tool or API that supplies it.
Which official search APIs are left?
Fewer each year. Google's Custom Search JSON API is closed to new customers, and existing customers have until January 1, 2027 to move. It gives 100 free queries a day, then charges $5 per 1,000 queries, up to 10,000 a day. Google points new users to Vertex AI Search for searching up to 50 domains.
Microsoft retired the Bing Search APIs on August 11, 2025. It points customers to Grounding with Bing Search, a feature of its Azure AI agents.
Should you use a SERP API or residential proxies for SEO?
It depends on the data you need. For Google's ranking data, the routes Google itself offers are shrinking, and its own API takes no new customers. Third-party SERP APIs and rank trackers sell that data under their own terms, so read those terms before you build on them.
Residential proxies fit a different job. They show the pages, prices and redirects a site serves to visitors in another place. That view is what local landing pages, store pages and language versions need.
How does Google decide where a search comes from?
From several signals at once. Google's location help page says a searcher's location "comes from a variety of sources, which are used together to estimate where you are". Those include a device's precise location, saved home and work addresses, and past activity.
The IP address is one of the signals. Google says IP addresses "are roughly based on geography". When the IP set the location, the bottom of the results page says "From your internet address".
So a proxy exit in a city sets one signal. A signed-in account or a device's own location can point elsewhere. The label at the bottom of the page shows whether the IP was used.
What do SEO teams use proxies for?
Checks where the place of the visitor changes the page, on sites that allow the visit:
| SEO check | Proxy type | Why |
|---|---|---|
| Your site from abroad | Residential, by country | redirects and prices show |
| Local landing pages | Residential, by city | the city version loads |
| Language versions | Datacenter or residential | some pick by IP |
| Competitor public pages | Residential or datacenter | the local page shows |
| Logged-in SEO dashboards | Static ISP address | the session holds |
Each row assumes public pages and each site's own terms. For sites that allow automated visits, our notes on why you keep hitting reCAPTCHA and avoiding IP bans cover request hygiene. Our web scraping guide covers the general mechanics.
What are the best residential proxies for SEO checks in 2026?
The best fit targets the city or ZIP code you check, at a price that suits your monthly volume. We read each seller's own pricing page on October 26, 2026:
| Seller | Price per GB, Oct 26 | Why it fits SEO checks |
|---|---|---|
| Evomi | $0.99 from 15 GB, $0.49 on a 100 GB plan | city, region and ISP |
| HProxy Premium | $1.49/GB from 1 GB | state, city and ASN |
| Decodo | $3.75 at 3 GB to $2.75 at 100 GB | ZIP and ASN |
| MarsProxies | $3.99 at 10 GB, $2.99 at 100 GB | city targeting |
| Bright Data | $8, or $4 with a code | ZIP and ASN, companies only |
| HProxy Lite | $0.50/GB from 1 GB | country checks |
At about 100 GB a month, the gap between them is wide:
Bright Data's documentation opens its residential network only to verified companies. The cheapest pools differ in what they target. Rainproxy charges $0.60 per GB for 10 GB on its main pool. It sells city and ASN targeting on a separate pool from $2.98. Our best residential proxies comparison sets ten sellers side by side.
What breaks in SEO proxy checks?
- Other signals count too. A signed-in account or a device's location can point elsewhere, so check the location label on every result page.
- The rules still apply. Google's policies cover every automated query, whichever address it comes from.
- Cheap pools stop at the country. Some sellers sell city targeting only on a dearer pool, so price the level your check needs.
- Sessions break mid-flow. A logged-in tool needs one address for the whole session, which a rotating exit does not give.
Our guide to rotating and static residential proxies covers the session choice.
What does HProxy offer for SEO work?
Two residential pools, both billed by the GB with a balance that never expires. Residential Lite targets by country, from $0.50/GB for one GB down to $0.44/GB at 2,000 GB+. Premium adds state, city and ASN targeting with sticky sessions up to 24 hours. It costs $1.49/GB for one GB, down to $1.00/GB at 1,000 GB+. Our pricing page lists every product, and our scraper APIs return parsed JSON per call for the platforms they cover.
What this page could not check
- No test of any network. We measured no speed or success rate at any seller, ours included, and ran no rank check against Google.
- Location in practice. We cannot say how often Google reads a given exit as the city it claims.
- Sellers as printed. The seller table repeats what each pricing page printed on October 26, 2026. We bought from none of them.
- No legal advice. The policies are quoted for what they say.
- Check by January 1, 2027. That is the end date of the Custom Search JSON API, and prices and policies need a fresh read by then.
Sources
- Google Search Central, Spam policies for Google web search, updated August 28, 2026, read October 26, 2026.
- Google, robots.txt of google.com, read October 26, 2026.
- Google for Developers, Custom Search JSON API overview, updated February 18, 2026, read October 26, 2026.
- Microsoft Learn, Bing Search APIs retiring on August 11, 2025, read October 26, 2026.
- Google Search Help, Understand and manage your location when you search on Google, read October 26, 2026.
- Search Engine Journal, Google Causes Global SEO Tool Outages, January 17, 2025, updated January 30, 2025.
- Evomi, Decodo, MarsProxies, Bright Data and Rainproxy, residential pricing pages, read October 26, 2026.
- Bright Data documentation, Residential network access, updated September 1, 2026, read October 26, 2026.
- HProxy, residential product pages and price list, read October 26, 2026.
