There is a well-known trick: you can use Google Translate as a free web proxy. By feeding any URL into Google Translate's website translation feature, Google's servers fetch the page on your behalf and serve it back through their domain. Your IP address never touches the target server.

It is clever, it is free, and it works in many cases. But it has significant limitations, especially if you need reliable, repeated access to a website.

How It Works

Google Translate's "Translate this page" feature fetches page content through Google's infrastructure. The URL structure looks like this:

https://www-example-com.translate.goog/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

The key parts:

• www-example-com.translate.goog - The target domain with dots replaced by hyphens, hosted on Google's translate.goog domain
• _x_tr_sl=auto - Source language (auto-detect)
• _x_tr_tl=en - Target language. Set this to the same language as the source to avoid actual translation
• _x_tr_hl=en - Interface language
• _x_tr_pto=wapp - Translation mode (web app)

Original URL	Google Translate Proxy URL
https://www.example.com/page	https://www-example-com.translate.goog/page?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp
https://news.site.org/article	https://news-site-org.translate.goog/article?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en&_x_tr_pto=wapp

URL Generator

Use the tool below to convert any URL into a Google Translate proxy URL:

Why People Use This

• Bypass IP blocks - The target website sees Google's IP, not yours
• Access geo-restricted content - Google's servers are distributed globally
• Avoid simple bot detection - Websites generally trust Google's IP ranges
• No setup required - Works in any browser, no extensions or VPNs needed

The Limitations

Content gets modified. Google injects its own toolbar, JavaScript, and translation widgets. Page layouts break, CSS shifts, and interactive elements stop working.

JavaScript-heavy sites fail. SPAs, React/Vue apps, and dynamically loaded content often break completely. The proxy was designed for static HTML, not modern web apps.

Rate limiting. Google applies its own rate limits. Frequent checks will get you blocked by Google itself.

No authentication. Cookies and sessions don't work reliably through the proxy, so anything behind a login wall is inaccessible.

No reliability guarantee. Google can change the URL format or service behavior at any time. There is no API or SLA.

For Website Monitoring, You Don't Need This

If you are using Google Translate URLs to monitor websites for changes, there is a much simpler approach. PageCrawl.io handles proxy rotation, bot protection, and JavaScript rendering out of the box:

• Built-in proxy rotation with residential IPs. Your IP is never exposed to the target website. No URL hacking required.
• Real browser rendering handles JavaScript, Cloudflare, and other bot protection automatically.
• Track specific elements with visual point-and-click selection, not just full pages.
• Instant notifications via email, Slack, Discord, Teams, Telegram, or webhooks.
• AI-powered change summaries and visual screenshot comparisons.

Just paste the original URL, pick what to track, and set up notifications. The free plan includes browser rendering and proxy support.