Hey there,
i have no clue at all about SEO generally and just read a few things on linking back and forth. However, i came to think that if i potentially used a VPN to google something like the name of a brand over and over again from different locations and IPs and always click on the search results i want to show up first, would i do any change to the ranking of specific sites?
(i know that doing this might take a lot of time, really more wondering if it would work out like that in theory)
Your thinking is on the right track - I used to write python scripts to scrape public proxies and automate google searches and parse through the results until my url was found, click through to the page, spend time on page and navigate, then disconnect. Would usually have 10-20 connections/browsers going at a time.
This is an old black hatty tactic that actually used to work quite well and still does, probably, but google is a lot smarter these days. You’d have to use rotating back connect residential proxies, which are very expensive and unreliable usually. But yeah I mean it can be done, just not with a vpn lol. You wouldn’t be able to do enough searches and clicks to make any sort of measurable difference whatsoever.
No. You’re operating under the idea that the more people click on a site the higher the ranking. This is not how it works. All you would be doing was checking the search results from different IP addresses, not effecting how they are ranked
You doing this on your own will not make any difference What so ever. Btw. Folks clicking on links in the SERP is one signal to increase ranking but there are in the region of a bazillion other signals which are more important.
You’d be better off using all that effort to click on ads on your site.
(IMPORTANT NOTE: I am not recommending that you actually do this! I’m just saying you’ll get more value doing that than you will from trying to improve rankings this way … at least until your advertiser shuts off your account.)
Well, if you think about how much work goes into building an ethically sourced residential IP pool, I would say that the price is justifiable. However, I would agree that some providers are a little too greedy. Check out SOAX proxies - work well and the pricing is decent.
So if the end result is important, investing in residential proxies can be a smart move.