News

There's no secret – knowledge is the key. Wanna gain some of it? Gotcha! Keep up with our news, as it informs and allows you to stay in touch with Decodo’s world and the latest events. Internal news, press releases, events, and much more – you can find it all here.

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How To Build a News Crawler in Python: Step-by-Step Guide

A news crawler is a tool that automatically pulls content from news websites. A web news crawler helps with tracking competitors, feeding LLM pipelines, or watching topic coverage across publishers. This guide walks you through building a configurable proxy-integrated Python news crawler that’ll target multiple news sources, handles proxy rotation, and saves structured results on a schedule.

A New Chapter for Decodo: Vaidotas Juknys Steps Up as CEO

Decodo has a new CEO. Vaidotas Juknys, previously our Chief Commercial Officer, is stepping up to lead the company forward. Vytautas Savickas, who built Decodo into one of the most recognized names in the proxy and web data collection space, is moving to new ventures. Here’s what this means for our clients, our product, and our future.

Google Disrupts World's Largest Residential Proxy Network: Why Ethical IP Sourcing Matters

Google Threat Intelligence Group, together with Cloudflare, Spur, and Lumen's Black Lotus Labs, announced that it dismantled IPIDEA, one of the world's largest residential proxy networks, reducing available devices for proxy operators by millions. The network facilitated espionage operations, cybercrime, and botnet attacks while hijacking consumer bandwidth without proper consent. In a single 7-day period in January, over 550 individual threat groups from China, DPRK, Iran, and Russia used IPIDEA infrastructure to mask malicious activities. This disruption highlights a critical but often overlooked risk in digital operations. How companies source IP addresses and proxy services directly impacts security posture, regulatory compliance, and ethical standing in an increasingly scrutinized digital landscape.

UK Ticket Resale Ban: How Platforms, Venues and Artists Must Adapt

The talk around whether the UK government could put a ban on ticket resale above face value is set to reshape the live events industry, from secondary ticketing platforms to artists and venues, with fan fairness at the center of the new rules. Decodo, a leading web data collection provider, has commented on the latest proposals to reform the ticket resale market, revealing the impact on key stakeholders.

Smartproxy vs Decodo: Complete Transition Guide

If you're comparing Smartproxy and Decodo, here's the most important thing to know – it’s the same company, just under a brand new name. This isn't a comparison between competitors, it's a guide to understanding how Smartproxy evolved into Decodo, bringing you enhanced capabilities while maintaining everything that made us the best value provider in the market.

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How U.S. Companies Are Using External Data to Make Smarter Decisions in 2025

From emerging trends and consumer behaviors to potential risks, external data allows companies to gain a holistic view of the market. Access to data and tools powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has shifted how businesses make strategic decisions, using data to accelerate business growth and operational efficiency.

Read on as we uncover how companies have seen measurable results and increased revenue, as well as the top red flags to watch out for.

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Smartproxy is now Decodo – A New Era of Web Data Solutions

Big news! Smartproxy has officially introduced its new name – Decodo, marking the next chapter in our journey to revolutionize proxy and web scraping solutions. While our name has changed, our commitment to delivering cutting-edge tools remains the same.

Dynamic Pricing Index: Fashion Takes the Lead

In our comprehensive eCommerce Dynamic Pricing Index, we delved into the prevalence, frequency, and complexity of dynamic pricing techniques across various product categories. Our analysis reveals fascinating insights, particularly highlighting the fashion sector as a frontrunner in the use of advanced dynamic pricing strategies.

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A Must in North America eCommerce: Reviews

When shifting our focus from Europe to North America, particularly the United States, a striking contrast emerges in the eCommerce Maturity Index. While Canada aligns closely with the top performers of Europe, exhibiting similar levels of performance across various dimensions, the United States stands out in two key areas – Reviewing and Investigating.

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The Importance of Transparency in Western and Northern Europe

While Europe stands united in striving to provide an excellent eCommerce experience for shoppers around the continent, not all countries perform equally well across all dimensions of the eCommerce Maturity Index. The performance drop is extremely visible in the Investigating dimension, which evaluates how well eCommerce websites provide critical background information about their offerings.

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Europe is Setting the Global Standard in eCommerce

When examining the top-ranking countries on the eCommerce Maturity Index, it becomes clear that Europeans are setting the global standard in creating the best experience for their users. Marketplaces in countries such as Belgium, Lithuania, Germany, Sweden, and Spain are at the forefront, demonstrating their ability to provide the most intuitive and user-friendly eCommerce experience.

Turkey, UAE, and India: Dynamic Pricing Leaders

Dynamic pricing, a strategy where prices of products or services are adjusted in real-time based on demand, supply, competitor pricing, and other factors, has become a popular practice in modern-day eCommerce.

Our recently published Dynamic Pricing Index dives deeper into the global landscape of this practice, revealing some intriguing trends. Interestingly, the leading countries in dynamic pricing are not from the traditionally dominant markets of Europe or North America but from the Asian continent. Turkey, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), and India have emerged as the top practitioners of dynamic pricing, with scores well above the global average.

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Europe eCommerce: Strong in Experience, Weaker in Dynamic Pricing

While European countries dominate the eCommerce Maturity Index by providing the most holistic eCommerce experience, they’re less advanced in adjusting their pricing strategies according to the buyer’s demand, peak shopping days, and competitors.

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Benefits of Completing ID Verification

As a proud member and the co-founder of the Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI), we’re taking all the necessary steps to ensure our services meet all the highest legality, ethics, ecosystem engagement, and social responsibility standards.

One of the most important steps that allow us to provide high-quality publicly available data collection services is ID verification. It’s a crucial step for users seeking to unlock additional features and targets.

Explore how ID verification can help you access popular target groups, particularly with residential proxies.

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Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI) Publishes a Q&A with Decodo CEO Vytautas Savickas

Ethical Web Data Collection Initiative (EWDCI), an international consortium of web data aggregation business leaders whose co-founder is Decodo, has recently published an insightful Q&A session with our CEO, Vytautas Savickas.

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Ad Verification Best Practices: A Comprehensive Guide

According to Markets and Markets research, the AdTech market is projected to grow from $579.4B (2023) to $1496.2B by 2030, with an annual growth rate of 14.5%. As the ad verification landscape accelerates, so does the need to collect publicly available real-time data.

In this guide, we’ll explore the essential strategies and techniques required to maintain ad integrity, combat fraud, and maximize campaign performance in this ever-changing industry. Our marketing experts gathered all the best practices

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Key eCommerce Trends Set to Dominate in 2025

Since its first hints in the 1960s, eCommerce has been accelerating at unprecedented rates. And you don’t need to dig deep; just look at the recent online market statistics – it grew from $1.47T in 2017 to $3.65T in 2023. Today's online market is as fast-paced as Formula 1 and as dynamic as a rollercoaster ride.

But it doesn’t mean you can’t catch up. You just need to stay ahead of the curve. And there’s no need to ask how because we already have the answer – customer feedback & eCommerce trend data. It’s an unusual combination, we know. But let us show how you can leverage this data to unlock your brand’s growth potential and maximize success in today’s bustling online marketplace. As a bonus, we’ll also explore proxies and how they fit into the mix. So, grab a cup of coffee, sit back, and prepare to soak in some knowledge!

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A Year in Review: Decodo 2023

Join us on a voyage of looking back into 2023 – products and features releases, significant achievements, and a lot of improvements. Learn more about the ever-changing proxy and scraping landscape, how Decodo stood out from the competition, and what’s coming next.

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