Geo targeting in
geomarketingAs a general term, Geomarketing is the integration of Geographical intelligence into all marketing aspects including sales and distribution. Geomarketing Research is the use of geographic parameters in research methodology starting from sampling, data collection, analysis, and...
and
internet marketingInternet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products, or, services over the Internet.The Internet has brought media to a global audience...
is the method of determining the
geolocationGeolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computer, mobile device, website visitor or other. IP address geolocation data can include information such as country, region, city, postal/zip code, latitude, longitude and timezone...
(the physical location) of a website visitor and delivering different
contentWhile the Internet began with a U.S. Government research project in the late 1950s, the web in its present form did not appear on the Internet until after Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at the European laboratory proposed the concept of linking documents with hypertext...
to that visitor based on his or her location, such as country, region/state, city, metro code/
zip codeThe ZIP code is the system of postal codes used by the United States Postal Service . The letters ZIP, a backronym for Zone Improvement Plan, are properly written in capital letters and were chosen to suggest that the mail travels more efficiently, and therefore more quickly, when senders use the...
, organization,
Internet Protocol (IP) addressAn Internet Protocol address is a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes....
, ISP or other criteria.
Geographical information provided by the visitor
In geo targeting with
geolocation softwareIn computing, geolocation software is used to deduce the geolocation of another party. For example, on the Internet, one geolocation approach is to identify the subject party's IP address, then determine what country, organization, and/or user the IP address has been assigned to, and finally,...
, the
geolocationGeolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computer, mobile device, website visitor or other. IP address geolocation data can include information such as country, region, city, postal/zip code, latitude, longitude and timezone...
is based on geographical and other personal information that is provided by the visitor or others.
Different content by choice
A typical example for different content by choice in geo targeting is the FedEx website at FedEx.com where users have the choice to select their country location first and are then presented with different site or article content depending on their selection.
Automated different content
In
internet marketingInternet marketing, also referred to as i-marketing, web marketing, online marketing, or eMarketing, is the marketing of products, or, services over the Internet.The Internet has brought media to a global audience...
and
geomarketingAs a general term, Geomarketing is the integration of Geographical intelligence into all marketing aspects including sales and distribution. Geomarketing Research is the use of geographic parameters in research methodology starting from sampling, data collection, analysis, and...
, the delivery of different content based on the geographical
geolocationGeolocation is the identification of the real-world geographic location of an Internet-connected computer, mobile device, website visitor or other. IP address geolocation data can include information such as country, region, city, postal/zip code, latitude, longitude and timezone...
and other personal information is automated.
IP spidering
The automated discovery of user person/organisation/city-level geolocation information based on
IP addressAn Internet Protocol address is a numerical label that is assigned to devices participating in a computer network utilizing the Internet Protocol for communication between its nodes....
es by
traceroutetraceroute is a computer network tool used to determine the route taken by packets across an IP network. An IPv6 variant, traceroute6, is also widely available.The traceroute tool is available on practically all Unix-like operating systems...
,
pingping is a computer network tool used to test whether a particular host is reachable across an IP network; it is also used to self test the network interface card of the computer, or as a latency test. It works by sending ICMP “echo request” packets to the target host and listening for ICMP “echo...
s, and a combination of other tools and methods is far more advanced.
It is dependent on the pre-analysis of the entire IP address space. There are more than 4 billion possible IP addresses, and detailed analysis of each of them is a Herculean task, especially in light of the fact that IP addresses are constantly being assigned, allocated, reallocated, moved and changed due to routers being moved, enterprises being assigned IP addresses or moving, and networks being built or changed. In order to keep up with these changes, complex algorithms, bandwidth measurement and mapping technology, and finely tuned delivery mechanisms are necessary. Once all of the IP space is analyzed, each address must be periodically updated to reflect changes in the IP address information. This process is analogous to Internet search engine
spideringA Web crawler is a computer program that browses the World Wide Web in a methodical, automated manner. Other terms for Web crawlers are ants, automatic indexers, bots, and worms or Web spider, Web robot, or—especially in the FOAF community—Web scutter.This process is called Web crawling or spidering...
in its enormity, yet requires far deeper layers of intelligence to keep the information about the constantly changing 4 billion-plus IP addresses current.
IP delivery in SEO
IP delivery for
search engine optimizationSearch engine optimization is the process of improving the volume or quality of traffic to a web site from search engines via "natural" or un-paid search results as opposed to search engine marketing which deals with paid inclusion...
is the method of delivering different content to search engine spiders (also known as robots and crawlers) than to human visitors. The determination if the visitor is a known search engine spider is done based on the IP address. SEOs compare the visitors IP address with their list of IP addresses, which are known to be servers that are owned by a search engine and used to run their crawler applications (spiders). The delivery of different content to search engine spiders than to human visitors is called
cloakingCloaking is a black hat search engine optimization technique in which the content presented to the search engine spider is different to that presented to the user's browser. This is done by delivering content based on the IP addresses or the User-Agent HTTP header of the user requesting the page...
and against most search engines webmaster guidelines.
Although the search engine guidelines seem to imply that any type of cloaking is bad, are there cases where cloaking might be legitimate. The subject is very controversial and SEO experts continue to debate about when cloaking might be acceptable and when it is not.
"Cloaking" via IP delivery works different from cloaking via "
user agentA user agent is the client application used with a particular network protocol; the phrase is most commonly used in reference to those which access the World Wide Web...
". While the
IP address spoofingIn computer networking, the term IP address spoofing or IP spoofing refers to the creation of Internet Protocol packets with a forged source IP address, called spoofing, with the purpose of concealing the identity of the sender or impersonating another computing system.-Background:The basic...
is harder than user-agent spoofing and thus more reliable, is it also harder to keep the list of IP addresses used by search engines for their crawlers up-to-date. An outdated list with active crawler IP addresses missing enables the search engines to detect the cloaking and may result in a removal of the site from the search engines index.
Common uses
- Webmasters who want to serve local content on a global domain
- Content owners and delivery networks restrict streams based on the geographical information
- Pay per click
Pay per click is an Internet advertising model used on websites, in which advertisers pay their host only when their ad is clicked. With search engines, advertisers typically bid on keyword phrases relevant to their target market...
advertisement to have ads appear only to users who live in selected locations
- Display advertisement
Ad serving describes the technology and service that places advertisements on web sites. Ad serving technology companies provide software to web sites and advertisers to serve ads, count them, choose the ads that will make the website or advertiser most money, and monitor progress of different...
where banner or other multimedia ads are selected to be displayed based on the visitors location. The use of connection speed data correlated to IP address to tailor content
- Online analytics identify live the correlation of city-level geography, connection speed data and certain demographic data to IP addresses
- Enhanced performance networks provide superior customer targeting to advertisers.
- Fraud prevention identifies suspicious payment transactions live by correlations between IP address and additional information (billing records, email header)
- City advertising by advertising on web sites with extensive content related to particular cities. Such web sites can connect large city audiences with products/services for sale in those cities. Surfers searching for information about particular cities find adverts at such web sites as a result of city name related searches rather than product/service keyword searches. In this way businesses, e.g. shops, restaurants, can advertise and reach out to consumers located in the real-world localities of their product/service offerings.
See also
- Article marketing
Article marketing is a type of advertising in which businesses write short articles related to their respective industry. These articles are made available for distribution and publication in the marketplace. Each article contains a bio box and byline that include references and contact...
- Content (media and publishing)
In media production and publishing, content is information and experiences that may provide value for an end-user/audience in specific contexts. Content may be delivered via any medium such as the internet, television, and audio CDs, as well as live events such as conferences and stage performances...
- Digital marketing
Digital Marketing is the promoting of brands using the Internet, mobile and other interactive channels.Digital Marketing is the practice of promoting products and services using digital distribution channels to reach consumers in a timely, relevant, personal and cost-effective manner.Whilst digital...
- Media transparency
Media transparency is the concept of determining how and why information is conveyed through various means.This is a specific case of the topic, Transparency . As used in the humanities, it implies openness and accountability...
- Web content
While the Internet began with a U.S. Government research project in the late 1950s, the web in its present form did not appear on the Internet until after Tim Berners-Lee and his colleagues at the European laboratory proposed the concept of linking documents with hypertext...