Using a VPN for SEO and Marketing Research

Why marketers change their apparent location

Search results, ads, prices and site content change with the searcher's location. A marketer in Chicago who searches "accountant near me" sees Chicago firms; a client in Leeds sees a different list. The same happens between countries: a brand can rank on page one in the US and nowhere in Germany, and a competitor's landing page may show a different offer to visitors in Canada.

Location testing covers a few recurring jobs: checking local and international rankings by hand, reviewing how ads and landing pages appear in a target market, confirming that geo-redirects and language versions work, and seeing a competitor's site the way local visitors see it. For occasional checks like these, a VPN with servers in the target country is the simplest tool.

Make location checks reliable

A VPN changes one signal: your IP address. Google says it estimates location from several sources, including the device's own location, home and work addresses saved in a Google account, past search activity and the IP address. If you're signed in, or your browser shares device location, connecting to a VPN may not change the results you see.

For cleaner checks, use a separate browser profile or a private window, stay signed out of Google and block location access for the browser. Connect to a server in the target country, or the target city if your provider offers it, and confirm the IP location before you search. When results look odd, repeat the check from a second server.

For ads, Google offers a better route. The Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool in Google Ads lets you enter a search term with a language and location, shows whether your ad is eligible to appear and previews the results page, without searching from that place yourself. For tracking many keywords across many locations, a rank tracker or a licensed SERP API is more reliable than manual checks.

VPN, proxy or anti-detect browser

These three tools solve related but different problems.

A VPN routes all of a device's traffic through one server, so it suits manual checks from one location at a time and protects traffic on networks you don't control. A proxy service routes individual requests through other IP addresses (residential, datacenter or mobile) and is usually driven by software. Proxies are built for volume and priced by data or IP count: Decodo's residential plan starts at $11.25 a month for 3 GB and Webshare at $2.99 a month, while Bright Data and Oxylabs serve larger data programs.

An anti-detect browser keeps separate browser profiles, each with its own cookies and fingerprint, often paired with one proxy per profile. Agencies use them to keep many client logins apart. GoLogin starts at $9 a month, Dolphin{anty} at $10 and Multilogin at $11.

Most individual marketers need only a VPN. Teams that collect data at scale or juggle many logins add the others, and they're the ones who most need to read the next section.

Platform terms and legal limits

Changing your location to see what local users see is ordinary research. Problems start when a tool is used to automate access or to misrepresent who you are.

Google's spam policies describe machine-generated traffic, including scraping results for rank-checking purposes without express permission, as a violation of both its spam policies and its Terms of Service. That's why serious rank tracking runs through licensed tools and SERP APIs, not scripts that query Google through rotating proxies. Meta's terms ask people to create only one account and to provide accurate information about themselves, and they forbid collecting data from Meta products by automated means without prior permission. Running many personal profiles through an anti-detect browser, or scraping profiles, can break those terms and get accounts banned, whatever tool hides the activity.

The law adds another layer. Rules on VPN use differ by country, privacy law applies to personal data you collect through proxies, and many streaming and ecommerce sites forbid region switching in their own terms. If your research involves collecting data, or you work from abroad, check the rules with your legal adviser first. Use these tools to see genuine local results, never to fake clicks, reviews, engagement or ad conversions.

Securing a distributed team

Agencies and remote teams log into client ad accounts, CMSs and analytics from home networks, coworking spaces and hotels. A VPN encrypts traffic between the device and the VPN server, which helps on networks you don't control. It does nothing for an account protected by a reused password.

Put the basics first. CISA urges people to turn on multifactor authentication for their accounts and recommends phishing-resistant methods such as FIDO security keys. Keep client credentials in a password manager with shared vaults, give each team member their own login in client platforms instead of one shared account, and remove access the day someone leaves.

If you want a VPN for the whole team, look for business features: central billing, an admin panel to add and remove people, and dedicated IP addresses you can allowlist in sensitive tools. NordVPN, Proton VPN and Windscribe all appear in our business VPN listings.

Choosing a provider

For location testing, coverage comes first. Check that the provider has servers in every country you test, and in specific cities if you work on local SEO. Free plans rarely fit this job. Proton VPN's free plan connects one device to servers in 10 countries chosen at random, so you can't pick your test market. Windscribe's free plan includes a limited amount of data and a set of locations; its Pro plan is $9 a month or $69 a year, and Build-a-Plan charges $1 per location per month with a $3 minimum, which suits someone who tests only two or three markets.

Compare monthly and long-term prices carefully, since the large discounts sit on long contracts. Proton VPN Plus lists a regular price of $9.99 a month and $3.49 a month on a two-year plan. NordVPN's Basic plan is $14.99 a month on monthly billing. Mullvad charges a flat €5 a month whatever the term, needs no email address and covers up to five devices.

Then check device limits and whether the app lets you choose a city. A money-back window, such as the 30 days Proton VPN offers on paid plans, gives you time to run real checks before you commit.

How our VPN rankings work

Our VPN and privacy category lists VPN services next to business VPNs, proxy services, anti-detect browsers and location testing tools, ordered by our Overall Score, half Editor Rating and half Market Signal, the 0-100 score we build from Ahrefs and Semrush data. On the data through September 2026, NordVPN has the highest Market Signal in the category, followed by Surfshark, Proton VPN and ExpressVPN.

The score reflects each brand's footprint in search, which says something about how established it is. It doesn't measure server coverage in the markets you test, city-level locations or speed from your office, so check those first and use the ranking to see which providers are widely known.