Failed ad campaigns lead to draining your budget instead of bearing fruit like wide brand recognition, sales growth, and successful launches, so verifying ads is non-negotiable. Proxies are one of the must-have tools for that; however, with a variety of options and tech characteristics, it may be hard to choose, or you may decide on the wrong option. In this article, we dot all the “i”s and cross all the “t”s regarding proxies for ad verification.

Why are proxies necessary for ad verification

As complex as it may seem, the choice of proxies is something you can’t omit, as alternative IPs play a crucial role in ad verification. Aside from obvious things like ensuring the ads are displayed correctly, in the intended location, and with up-to-date prices, proxies help ensure stable cross-regional access even in areas with connection interruptions, prevent IP-related connection failure, and deal with fraud and security threats.

How is that so? Programmatic advertising sure saves time, but it provides limited options in terms of control over ad placement. You can choose a location and some other parameters, but the choice of particular websites where your ads will be displayed can be impossible. As a result, your ad may end up on a website with strict access policies or even fraudulent sources, where ads are shown under layers or reduced to a 1*1 pixel size, so they are actually invisible. To check ads on such resources or catch a scam – all without triggering security systems with too many requests originating from the same IP – you also need to guard your anonymity. Also, having additional middleware between you and the target site would be beneficial in terms of security, as your real IP remains hidden, making it more difficult to figure out more sensitive information. However, there are a lot of proxy characteristics, and you need to match the right proxy type to your needs – that’s why you should start by defining your requirements.  

So, how to choose proxies for ad verification?

There are some common things you should account for, whatever your specific purpose might be. 100% ethically derived proxies, GDPR-compliant is a must, as such proxies are usually whitelisted, not burned or filtered out by websites. For you, it means uninterrupted access. They also aren’t associated with illegal activities like spreading spam, which prevents you from encountering reputational risks and guarantees that you can verify ads without interruptions.

Speed is another factor that is important for every type of check. Low latency means less time spent on verification without losing quality.

Scaling options are also important. In its nature, ad verification is a process with spikes – for example, when you launch new campaigns or conduct audits. So, look for a large number of connection threats (which is also good for isolated runs) and stable performance during peak hours. Resilient infrastructure will also survive possible DDoS attacks, without interrupting your processes.

Other aspects include choice.

Proxy type: residential or mobile?

Residential proxies are IPs of real household devices. They are authentic and align with the terms of service of most websites. They offer precise geo-targeting; however, this also depends on the provider. Some offer country/region/city-level geo-targeting only. However, it’s possible to get ASN- or ZIP-level targeting. That’s why residential proxies are good for precise verification and sensitive cases when you need to preserve your anonymity. They are also more stable as the same IP is associated with a particular household for a relatively long time, from several days to several months.

Mobile proxies offer less precision in terms of geo-targeting, but more in terms of anonymity. Mobile IPs are assigned by cellular operators when you go online, relying on mobile data. Every cellular tower controls a range of IPs, and as you move from the coverage of one tower to another, you switch to another address. Also, you receive a new IP every time you connect. So, the lease duration is only several hours, which means mobile proxies are less stable. As there are way fewer mobile IPs available than users, the same address is utilized by hundreds of devices simultaneously. Those two facts mean high privacy, as it’s hard to trace each particular user. Mobile proxies are good when you need extra privacy or for mobile-first apps and platforms.

It’s believed that both residential and mobile proxies share the same disadvantage – high price. That’s why some businesses try to use cheaper datacenter proxies. They indeed can be used for low-risk, high-volume cases, for example, for internal testing, but generally, they are often filtered out, especially if you use the range of IPs from the same subnet. However, prices also depend on the provider, payment model, traffic expiration conditions, and quantity of GBs. Many providers often have custom prices for high-volume plans, and the pay-as-you-go model usually wins over subscriptions, as you pay only for traffic you actually use and don’t feel the pressure of an expiration date. This way, if you choose the right combination of terms, residential and mobile proxies can be almost as affordable as datacenter IPs. For example, at DataImpulse, you can have residential proxies starting from $0.7/GB for custom plans.

Geo-targeting options or size of IP pool?

Usually, the IP count gets more attention – the more, the better. Still, for ad verification, precise geo-targeting is more important – “IPs from all over the world” are to be avoided. Look for consistent geo-mapping as well.

Session type: rotating or sticky?

You need both types for different tasks. Rotation is necessary for large-scale scans as it helps you generate normal traffic patterns and avoid connection interruptions caused by making too many requests using the same IP. Sticky sessions up to 30 minutes are used for frequency capping, tracking sequential ad journeys, and logged-in user flow.

​How to test proxies?

To ensure given proxies are good for ad verification, first opt for probation period or trial plans without buying large volumes of traffic. Inspect the same ad using real devices, residential, and mobile proxies. Pay attention to placement and how creatives look, and how much time it takes for an ad to load. Frequency behaviour also matters. Those criteria will help you see whether the check results match the reality and make a final decision.

Final thoughts

Ad verification has many aspects to consider, even within the same campaign, so usually you need a choice of proxies – residential and mobile, rotating and sticky – for different platforms and checks. Other things to look for include 24/7 human live support, so you receive necessary help fast, ease of implementation and billing flow so you don’t waste time, and an auto-charge feature for uninterrupted flow. This way, ad verification will be effective and smooth.

Related articles

3 ways proxies can boost ad verification
Rotating or sticky proxies: how to make the right choice 
Excluding ASNs when configuring a proxy: pros and cons 
Mobile and residential proxies: differences explained