You spend hours perfecting your extraction script. The logic is flawless, the selectors are precise, and the test runs look promising.
Then, you launch the full-scale project. Ten minutes later, everything crashes. The dreaded “403 Forbidden” or “429 Too Many Requests” error flashes across your terminal.
Your target site just slammed the door shut.
Getting blocked isn’t just bad luck; it is a predictable outcome when your scraper acts too much like a robot. Modern websites employ sophisticated defenses to detect automated traffic. If you send thousands of requests from a single server IP, you are practically begging for a ban.
Survival in the web scraping game depends on one core principle: looking human. We’ll show you how to rotate IP addresses effectively, manage your digital footprint, and why a premium IP rotation strategy is your only real insurance against blocking.
Why Websites Block You: Understanding the Red Flags
Before fixing the problem, you must understand the mechanism. Websites do not block you personally; they block patterns. When a server sees behavior that deviates from a normal human user, security protocols kick in.
Here are the most common triggers for a ban:
To scrape without getting blocked, you need to disrupt these patterns. You need to make every request look like it comes from a different, legitimate user.
Datacenter Problem vs. Residential Solution
Most beginners start with datacenter proxies because they are cheap and fast. However, they are also incredibly easy to detect.
Datacenter IPs belong to cloud hosting providers (like AWS, DigitalOcean, or smaller server farms). Websites know these IP ranges. They know that real grandmothers shopping for holiday gifts do not browse the internet via an AWS server in Virginia.
Datacenter proxies have a block rate 3-4x higher than residential proxies on major e-commerce and social media platforms. They suffer heavily from subnet bans. One bad actor on the same server farm can ruin the reputation of thousands of IPs, including yours.
Why Residential Proxies Change the Game
Residential proxies for scraping are different. These IPs belong to real devices—home Wi-Fi connections, mobile phones, and tablets—connected to genuine ISPs (Internet Service Providers) like Comcast, Verizon, or AT&T.
When you route traffic through a residential network, your requests blend in with millions of regular users.
This is where Decodo excels. With a massive pool of over 55 million real device IPs, Decodo allows your scraper to hide in plain sight.
Using such a vast network makes your traffic indistinguishable from normal browsing behavior. You are no longer a bot attacking a server; you appear as thousands of distinct users visiting a page.
Mastering IP Rotation Strategy
Having good IPs is only half the battle. How you use them matters just as much. A solid IP rotation strategy prevents any single address from hitting a target site’s rate limit.
Here is a step-by-step approach to structuring your scraper for maximum longevity.
Step 1: Smart Rotation for High-Volume Data
For most scraping tasks—like gathering prices, aggregating news, or monitoring reviews—you want a fresh identity for every single action.
You should configure your proxy middleware to request a new IP for every URL you visit. With Decodo, this happens automatically. Because the pool is so deep (55M+ IPs), the statistical probability of reusing the same IP within a short window is nearly zero.
This method completely bypasses rate limiting. Even if you send 10,000 requests an hour, the target website sees 10,000 different visitors, each making just one request. This is the gold standard to avoid IP bans scraping at scale.
Step 2: Sticky Sessions for Complex Flows
Sometimes, constant rotation breaks your script. If you need to log in to an account, fill out a multi-page form, or complete a checkout flow, changing your IP midway through looks suspicious. It causes session cookies to become invalid, logging you out immediately.
For these tasks, you need sticky vs rotating sessions.
A sticky session keeps you assigned to the exact same IP address for a set period—typically up to 30 minutes. This provides enough stability to complete complex user journeys. Decodo allows precise control here, letting you toggle between sticky and rotating modes depending on your immediate goal.
Step 3: Precise ASN and Geo-Targeting
Advanced anti-bot systems look at more than just the IP address; they check the ISP.
If you are scraping a US retailer, traffic coming from a residential IP in Vietnam might get blocked. Similarly, if a website sees traffic from a generic, smaller ISP often associated with bot farms, it might filter it out.
ASN targeting for scraping is a powerful countermeasure. An ASN (Autonomous System Number) identifies the specific network operator. With Decodo, you can filter your proxies to only use IPs from trusted, Tier-1 providers like Verizon, AT&T, or British Telecom.
Combining Country/City/State targeting with ASN selection creates the ultimate camouflage. You can literally tell your scraper: “Only use IPs located in New York City, provided by Verizon Fios.”
Why Decodo is the Smart Choice for 2026
Building a scraping infrastructure is hard. Maintaining a proxy list is harder. You need a partner that handles the heavy lifting of network management so you can focus on the data.
Decodo offers the robust infrastructure required for enterprise-grade scraping:
When you rely on free proxies or cheap datacenter lists, you pay with your time. You spend hours debugging bans instead of analyzing data.
Stop Getting Blocked: Scraping Success Starts with IP Quality
The era of simple scraping is over. Websites are smarter, faster, and more aggressive in defending their data. To succeed, your scraping operation must evolve.
The secret isn’t a better parsing library; it is a better network layer. By utilizing a high-quality IP pool and implementing smart rotation rules, you remove the single point of failure that causes bans.
Don’t let a “403 Forbidden” error stop your business. Upgrade to a residential network that guarantees anonymity. Try Decodo’s residential pool today and experience the difference that 55 million real IPs can make for your project.
Ali
Ali is a digital marketing expert with 7+ years of experience in SEO-optimized blogging. Skilled in reviewing SaaS tools, social media marketing, and email campaigns, we craft content that ranks well and engages audiences. Known for providing genuine information, Ali is a reliable source for businesses seeking to boost their online presence effectively.
