> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.scrapeunblocker.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Country targeting

> Force requests through a specific country's residential proxy pool.

The `proxy_country` parameter forces ScrapeUnblocker to use a residential IP from a specific country. It's accepted by all three public endpoints.

## When you need it

<CardGroup cols={2}>
  <Card title="Geo-fenced content" icon="globe">
    Streaming catalogs, e-commerce prices, news paywalls - many sites serve different content (or block entirely) based on the visitor's country.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Localized SERPs" icon="magnifying-glass">
    Google results differ dramatically by region. Use `proxy_country` on `/serpApi` to scrape SERPs as they appear in a given market.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Anti-bot geo rotation" icon="shield">
    Some bot-protection vendors apply tighter rules to certain country pools. Rotating through a friendly country can lift a `403`.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Compliance" icon="scale-balanced">
    Verify that geo-blocking on your own site behaves as intended from a list of source countries.
  </Card>
</CardGroup>

## Format

`proxy_country` is a two-letter ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 country code, lowercase.

## Supported countries

| Country        | Code |
| -------------- | ---- |
| Belgium        | `be` |
| Canada         | `ca` |
| China          | `cn` |
| Croatia        | `hr` |
| Denmark        | `dk` |
| Finland        | `fi` |
| France         | `fr` |
| Germany        | `de` |
| Israel         | `il` |
| Italy          | `it` |
| Japan          | `jp` |
| Lithuania      | `lt` |
| Netherlands    | `nl` |
| Poland         | `pl` |
| Spain          | `es` |
| Sweden         | `se` |
| Taiwan         | `tw` |
| United Kingdom | `gb` |
| United States  | `us` |

If you request a country outside this list, the request still completes but uses our default routing. Check the `proxy_country` field in the response (on `/serpApi`) or use `get_cookies=true` (on `/getPageSource`) to see which country was actually used.

## Examples

### `/getPageSource`

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST "https://api.scrapeunblocker.com/getPageSource?url=https://example.com&proxy_country=de" \
  -H "x-scrapeunblocker-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

### `/serpApi`

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST "https://api.scrapeunblocker.com/serpApi?keyword=pizza&proxy_country=it" \
  -H "x-scrapeunblocker-key: YOUR_API_KEY"
```

### `/getImage`

```bash theme={null}
curl -X POST "https://api.scrapeunblocker.com/getImage?url=https://host.com/img.jpg&proxy_country=jp" \
  -H "x-scrapeunblocker-key: YOUR_API_KEY" \
  --output image.png
```

## Verifying which country was used

`/serpApi` always returns the `proxy_country` actually used in its JSON response. For `/getPageSource`, set `get_cookies=true` to see which proxy served the request:

```json theme={null}
{
  "html": "...",
  "cookies": [ ... ],
  "proxy": "de"
}
```

See [cookies and sessions](/guides/cookies-and-sessions).

## Tips

* **Match the country to the target.** Scraping `amazon.de` from a US IP often returns the US redirect page. Use `proxy_country=de`.
* **Rotate on `403`.** If a target blocks one country, try another. Cycling `us` → `gb` → `de` resolves most rate-based blocks.
* **Expect higher latency on smaller pools.** Less common countries have smaller proxy pools, which means longer rotation between requests.