Using VPN Connect with Siteimprove

What is a VPN and Why Use It?

A Virtual Private Network (VPN) creates a secure, encrypted tunnel between two networks. This ensures that data travels safely and privately across the internet or other networks.

For Siteimprove, a VPN connection is useful when you need to crawl websites that are not publicly accessible. These might be internal sites, staging environments, or restricted domains that cannot be made public for security reasons.

Why Do You Need VPN Connect for Crawling?

Siteimprove’s crawler typically accesses websites over the public internet. If your site is behind a firewall or only available internally, the crawler cannot reach it.

VPN Connect solves this by creating a secure tunnel between Siteimprove’s data centers and your internal environment, allowing the crawler to access your restricted sites without exposing them publicly.

How VPN Connect Works

• Siteimprove sets up a customer-specific VPN proxy in our infrastructure.
• All crawl traffic for your internal sites is routed through this VPN tunnel.
• The same crawler functionality applies—authentication, cookies, and other configurations are supported.

High-Level Setup Steps

1. Purchase VPN Connect
   • Please reach out to your Siteimprove representative to add VPN Connect to your subscription.
2.  Prepare Your VPN Configuration
   • You will need:

     • A VPN device or firewall that supports Siteimprove’s cryptography standards.

     • Public DNS entry (preferred) or NATed IP addresses.

     • Details such as:

       • Manufacturer/Model of your VPN device

       • VPN peer address

       • Encryption domain

       • List of hosts or IP segments to crawl

3. Complete the VPN Template Form
   • Siteimprove will provide a template for you to fill in with the above details.
4. Work with Siteimprove Platform Operations
   • Our team will:
     • Configure the VPN tunnel in AWS.
     • Set up DNS resolution for your internal URLs.
     • Assign the proxy URL for your crawls, per request, and once sites are created.
5. Verify Crawl Access
   • Once the VPN is operational, Siteimprove will configure your sites to run through the VPN proxy and confirm successful crawling. 

Important Notes

• NATing your IPs is strongly preferred to avoid conflicts. 
• We cannot support overlapping internal IP ranges—first-come, first-served. 
• VPN Connect does not add new features to the platform; it enables secure crawling of internal sites.

Need Help?

Contact Siteimprove Support or your Customer Success Manager for assistance with VPN Connect setup.