Geo-targeting: the regional op­ti­miza­tion of web content and how it works

In today’s glob­al­ized society, busi­ness­es are operating in­ter­na­tion­al­ly on an ever-in­creas­ing scale. Online merchants now often have customer bases in many countries across the world – each with their own language and cultural con­ven­tions. One single website for every customer base is therefore often un­prof­itable. Instead, it pays to address customers directly with tailored web content. But online marketing doesn’t solely seek to expand busi­ness­es globally; ad­dress­ing customers in specific regions with the targeted dis­tri­b­u­tion of ad­ver­tis­ing and product offers can also be a strong tactic to increase sales. In both cases online busi­ness­es use geo-targeting. But what do you stand to gain from using this technique and how should you go about im­ple­ment­ing it?

As an area of targeted ad­ver­tis­ing, geo-targeting involves a variety of tech­nolo­gies used in online marketing to locate customer groups. The goal is to create perfectly tailored ad­ver­tis­ing content for internet users, based on their region. This may involve adapting the website’s language or adjusting the ad­ver­tise­ments to have a regional reference. Geo-targeting plays a central role in e-commerce, although its uses are not ex­clu­sive­ly limited to com­mer­cial websites. Read on for an overview of the most common types of lo­cal­iza­tion methods, the different fields of ap­pli­ca­tion for geo-targeting, and the limits and risks of this kind of tech­nol­o­gy.

The main motive for targeting measures is the as­sump­tion that internet users consider web content tailored to match their online behavior to be more relevant and useful. One central factor in creating relevant content is the user’s location. This data provides online retailers with ref­er­ences to the preferred language, so­cio­cul­tur­al char­ac­ter­is­tics, and the legal framework for ad­ver­tis­ing in the re­spec­tive region. But geo-targeting isn’t just used for ad­dress­ing target groups; as well as being used for adapting web content and preparing online ad­ver­tise­ments, app de­vel­op­ers also determine their customers’ locations in order to implement cross-media strate­gies and link online channels with offline touch­points. Geo-targeting tech­niques are used across various other in­dus­tries, such as in the market economy, copyright pro­tec­tion, and securing online trans­ac­tions.

• Mul­ti­lin­gual web content: many websites are geared towards users all around the world and thus need to provide content in several different languages. Header in­for­ma­tion gives an in­di­ca­tion of the preferred language, which is submitted au­to­mat­i­cal­ly by the web browser following a server request. If a browser detects a page with several language options, the content man­age­ment system plays the required version. So for example, while a website visitor based in the United States will see a page in English, a visitor looking at the same page in Brazil may see the same content in Por­tuguese. But not every website relies ex­clu­sive­ly on the header in­for­ma­tion; geo-targeting also enables the browser to determine the website based on technical lo­cal­iza­tion methods.

• Geo-targeting in e-commerce: web stores also use mul­ti­lin­gual sites to address an in­ter­na­tion­al customer base. Geo-targeting can here offer the pos­si­bil­i­ty to provide many different versions of the same store under one global URL. Depending on the target region, this may offer customers a different product range, region-specific cur­ren­cies, prices, and terms of delivery as well as in­for­ma­tion on the nearest offline branch.

• Regional ad­ver­tis­ing: the ad­ver­tis­ing industry often makes use of geo-targeting in order to increase the relevance of online ad­ver­tis­ing for their chosen target group. Ad networks like Google AdWords and Mi­crosofts Bing Ads provide functions that enable busi­ness­es to focus on in­di­vid­ual users and target groups using adverts for relevant products or settings. This can benefit busi­ness­es of all sizes; for example, small busi­ness­es can use this type of online ad­ver­tis­ing to attract new customers from their sur­round­ing area. The aim of regional targeting is ul­ti­mate­ly to minimize ad­ver­tis­ing ex­pen­di­ture and place the ad­ver­tis­ing material where it will be most effective.

• Location-based services: with the ever-in­creas­ing use of smart­phones and tablets, geo-targeting also plays an important role in location-based services, (LBS). Many apps au­to­mat­i­cal­ly record users’ locations with their consent. This gives de­vel­op­ers the op­por­tu­ni­ty to co­or­di­nate software functions with the user’s location. It’s possible then to create services that are available online within a company or in selected shops and restau­rants. An example of LBS being put into practice is with coupon apps; if a customer enters a par­tic­i­pat­ing retailer, a discount no­ti­fi­ca­tion will au­to­mat­i­cal­ly pop up on the smart­phone display.

• Market research: market research also relies heavily on geodata, par­tic­u­lar­ly in the areas of defining target groups and narrowing down requests for products and services to specific ge­o­graph­i­cal locations.

• Copyright pro­tec­tion: in copyright pro­tec­tion, a form of user lo­cal­iza­tion known as geoblock­ing is used. This allows mul­ti­me­dia platforms such as YouTube to use geo-targeting options in order to limit content to specific countries or regions and in so doing, pro­tect­ing the copyright. License fee-financed web content of public-law broad­cast­ing cor­po­ra­tions can only be called up in their countries of origin.

• Payment security: another area of ap­pli­ca­tion for user lo­cal­iza­tion is online payment trans­ac­tions. Trans­ac­tion services use geo-targeting tech­niques to co­or­di­nate a user’s location with their account data and thus detect any in­con­sis­ten­cies.

Geo-targeting tech­niques vary depending on the data used to determine the user location. These methods vary from using in­for­ma­tion provided vol­un­tar­i­ly by the users, or using the location shared in the user’s browser, which relies on an automated eval­u­a­tion of IP addresses or GPS data.

Geo-targeting with user input

One simple way to implement geo-targeting is with manually entered user in­for­ma­tion. Some websites, es­pe­cial­ly older ones, request users to select the country or language of the website they want to view or the region from which they’re accessing the website. To record a user’s location this way, website owners simply need to create an online form that requires a postal code or the desired language, which will then forward the user to the ap­pro­pri­ate content.

Another option for de­ter­min­ing a user‘s location is to ask for them to enter it manually during a reg­is­tra­tion process – for example in order to create an account with a website, a forum, or a web app. In this case, you only collect the location in­for­ma­tion from reg­is­tered users, who have entered their location manually. With this type of geo-location, the user’s current location is very rarely recorded. De­ter­min­ing the user‘s location based on voluntary in­for­ma­tion is therefore a very imprecise method and depends on the user’s accuracy and honesty.

De­ter­min­ing location via a web browser

With HTML5‘s ge­olo­ca­tion API option, the World Wide Web Con­sor­tium (W3C) provides a pro­gram­ming interface that enable websites and ap­pli­ca­tions to instruct the browser to compile location data from the operating system. This is trans­ferred to the browser‘s ge­olo­ca­tion provider, which then responds with concrete co­or­di­nates and an address. This is read by the ge­olo­ca­tion API and provided to the website. The quality of the data depends on the technical fa­cil­i­ties of the device in use and the available data. The possible options for gathering in­for­ma­tion include GPS data, network signals such as IP addresses, WLAN, RFID, and Bluetooth MAC addresses as well as data from tracking devices (i.e. GSM or CDMA). These mostly vary with regard to the accuracy of the lo­cal­iza­tion. Depending on the lo­cal­iza­tion technique, it’s possible to have fluc­tu­a­tions from a few meters up to several kilo­me­ters. HTML5 ge­olo­ca­tion API therefore issues both geo-co­or­di­nates as well as a value in order to judge the accuracy of the results. The user's consent is required in order to share their location and varies according to the web browser. For example, since the 50^th edition of Google Chrome, the release of location data has been allowed with HTTPS con­nec­tions only. Users are asked whether they want to share their current position sep­a­rate­ly for each website and web ap­pli­ca­tion.

IP targeting

IP addresses are a central network signal used for de­ter­min­ing a user location. When trans­fer­ring data via HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol), every internet user sends a return internet address. This is either the router’s IPv4 address or an IPv6 address unique to the device. IP addresses are used in order to give each device a distinct address, making them reachable. When accessing a web page, a user sends an HTTP request to the IP address of the re­spon­si­ble web server. A sender address is then au­to­mat­i­cal­ly provided. The re­spond­ing web server can then identify the sender of the request and sub­se­quent­ly return the requested data package.

Due to the shortage of IPv4 addresses, routers and client devices are usually not available as static addresses, unlike web servers. Instead, the IPs of internet service providers (ISP) are assigned dy­nam­i­cal­ly. Generally, IP addresses with private internet con­nec­tions change roughly every 24 hours. It’s then possibly to ascertain a rough es­ti­ma­tion of the user’s location based on their IP. This is due to the procedure of awarding IP addresses under the auspices of the IANA (Internet Assigned Numbers Authority), which is a de­part­ment of ICANN (Internet Cor­po­ra­tion for Assigned Names and Numbers). IANA is re­spon­si­ble for al­lo­cat­ing IP address ranges to so-called RIRs (regional internet reg­istries). Globally, there are currently five RIRs with different regional re­spon­si­bil­i­ties:

• Réseaux IP Européens Network Co­or­di­na­tion Centre (RIPE NCC): re­spon­si­ble for Europe, the Middle East, and Central Asia.

• American Registry for Internet Numbers (ARIN): re­spon­si­ble for the USA, Canada, Bermuda, the Bahamas, and parts of the Caribbean.

• Asia-Pacific Network In­for­ma­tion Centre (APNIC): re­spon­si­ble for Asia and the Pacific region.

• Latin American and Caribbean Internet Addresses Registry (LACNIC): re­spon­si­ble for Latin America and parts of the Caribbean.

• African Network In­for­ma­tion Centre (AfriNIC): Re­spon­si­ble for Africa.

The five RIRs divide the address areas provided to them into smaller regions and pass them on to local internet au­thor­i­ties (LIR). These are usually internet service providers (ISP), which deal with end-user business. Every ISP has a fixed pool of addresses assigned dy­nam­i­cal­ly or sta­t­i­cal­ly to customer routers or terminals. Based on the IP, topo­log­i­cal in­for­ma­tion about the hi­er­ar­chal structure of the address system and the as­sign­ment of sub­net­works can thus be read out. This allows website owners to identify the ISP from which the IP was assigned. Its location and area of influence can then be used to draw con­clu­sions about the user’s ap­prox­i­mate location. However, the precise address of a customer con­nec­tion can’t be used in the context of ge­o­t­rack­ing, as it is subject to data pro­tec­tion and is only known to the ISP.

But es­pe­cial­ly in the case of large internet service providers, es­tab­lish­ing a location based on in­for­ma­tion provided by the IP is in­suf­fi­cient for ge­o­tar­get­ing measures.  That’s why many service providers have spe­cial­ized in the area of de­ter­min­ing ad­di­tion­al in­for­ma­tion in order to define an IP address more precisely. Website owners can then pay to access this in­for­ma­tion, which is generally available in con­tin­u­al­ly updated databases.

In order to define the ge­olo­ca­tion of an IP address as precisely as possible, website operators use lo­cal­iza­tion strate­gies that are based on network mea­sure­ments and are syn­chro­nized with latency periods. Other ap­proach­es rely on BGP routing tables, address prefixes, and the Whois database in order to organize IP addresses into clusters. There are also IP databases built by user in­for­ma­tion given vol­un­tar­i­ly for online games. Despite these efforts, IP-based ge­olo­ca­tion can only deliver ap­prox­i­mate results at the very best. Website operators who require more reliable data should, therefore, use the location sharing option in the web browser.

GPS targeting

GPS targeting uses a satellite-based tracking system. This makes it possible for the position of a device to be iden­ti­fied to within a few meters. For this purpose, the runtimes of 6 to 12 satellite signals are evaluated. Today, GPS nav­i­ga­tion devices are in almost all modern mobile devices, although sta­tion­ary computers are generally not able to be localized via GPS. GPS targeting is therefore primarily used by mobile websites to locate their target groups, by im­ple­ment­ing location-related app and mobile ad­ver­tis­ing services.

A GPS lo­cal­iza­tion is only possible where satellite signals are received. For example, it’s not always possible to locate mobile devices in locked rooms. Ad­di­tion­al­ly, the user must activate the locating service for their re­spec­tive device and agree to share their location in­for­ma­tion with a website or app provider via an opt-in agreement.

Radio cell tracking services

Radio cell tracking is a method of ge­olo­cal­iz­ing mobile devices. This can be im­ple­ment­ed via a telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion service provider, a GSM modem, or a pro­gram­ming interface like the ge­olo­ca­tion API in browsers. Devices in­te­grat­ed into digital mobile radio networks can be located via their relative position to nearby radio mast. Special lo­cal­iza­tion tech­nol­o­gy like GPS is then not required. 

The accuracy of the smart­phone or tablet’s position depends on the number of radio masts in the sur­round­ing area. Radio cell tracking therefore delivers more precise results in busy towns and cities than in rural areas. Mobile network operators use ge­olo­ca­tion over the mobile network to provide location-specific services to their customers. Areas of ap­pli­ca­tion include fleet man­age­ment in the context of logistics or de­ter­min­ing the ge­olo­ca­tion during emergency calls. This is also helpful in locating stolen or lost devices. In some cases, the police can also access location data in order to determine the where­abouts of a suspected criminal.

Ge­o­tar­get­ing is also a useful tool in search engine op­ti­miza­tion, with in­ter­sec­tions being found in in­ter­na­tion­al SEO as well as websites that focus on regional search queries (local SEO).

In­ter­na­tion­al SEO

In­ter­na­tion­al SEO en­com­pass­es all practices that allow search engine crawlers to determine the country or language required with each query. In­ter­na­tion­al busi­ness­es usually offer web content in several languages, however, in some cases the correct language doesn’t appear in the search engine results pages. For example, if an internet user in the United States views the website of a business based in France, the page might initially appear in French, even if there is an English version. To prevent this, website owners use the long-es­tab­lished hreflang attribute, which enables search engines to choose the correct language version: <link rel="alternate" href="http://example.com" hreflang="en-us" /> The hreflang attribute gives website owners the option to store in­for­ma­tion about the various language versions of their website in the header of each page as well as in the XML sitemap. With hreflang, it’s possible to have single language versions for different countries and several languages for one country (i.e. Canada or India). Search engines read the in­for­ma­tion in the hreflang attribute and use the location data collected by the operator in order to deliver search results in the preferred language and country version. For tips on how to use the hreflang attribute, refer to the how-to guide in the Google Search Console Help. The hreflang attribute method is also useful in com­bi­na­tion with content that has regional ref­er­ences. As well as the ap­pro­pri­ate language, website owners should also give signals for content oriented towards a specific region via ap­pro­pri­ate­ly adapted contact in­for­ma­tion, currency in­for­ma­tion, and links to other web content from the same region. For the search engine op­ti­miza­tion of in­ter­na­tion­al websites, the hreflang attribute is of even greater sig­nif­i­cance. From the user’s point of view, de­liv­er­ing the correct language and country version of a website increases both the relevance as well as the usability of a website. This ensures the page’s bounce rate remains low and the retention time stays high – two very important factors in achieving a high ranking on the search engine results pages.

Local SEO

Local SEO is the practice of op­ti­miz­ing a website with a cultural bias specif­i­cal­ly for regional search queries. Local search queries might include search phrases that give a clear in­di­ca­tion of the region the user is in­ter­est­ed in, examples of this would include, for example, ‘best bars Manhattan’ or ‘dentists Denver’. The search engine then displays relevant results in the user’s immediate vicinity as well as results based on network signals such as the IP or the location in­for­ma­tion of a user profile (i.e. Google+).

Website owners whose products and services have a regional sig­nif­i­cance have different options to signal their product’s relevance to search engines. Local SEO strate­gies include onpage op­ti­miza­tion to include regional keywords and being features in online di­rec­to­ries and maps.

• Onpage op­ti­miza­tion: in order to signal a regional relevance, a website’s content and meta-in­for­ma­tion should be adjusted ac­cord­ing­ly through the use of keywords. Title tags, headings, URLs, text content, and al­ter­na­tive texts for images should allude to or contain the name of the target region as well as a keyword relevant to the website. In addition, it’s worth­while to embed a map service such as Google Maps, which allow you to mark offline branches, the company location or other contact points.

• Google My Business listing: Google My Business is an in­dis­pens­able for gaining a high ranking in a specific local region. The service is a vital man­age­ment tool for Google Maps and Google Plus Local (formerly Google Places) as it bundles the branch services of the search engine market leader. Business owners can create a free profile and mark their location with a pin on a Google Maps map. Local busi­ness­es also have the prospect of being placed in the coveted Google Local Pack. In this, Google presents the three most relevant providers for a local search including the card entry in the organic search results. The Local Pack contains a business’s NAP data (i.e. name, address, and telephone number) and thus enables the user to find the contact details of their desired service quickly. If this data is also found in the same form on other websites, it’s known as a local citation.

• Local citations: local citations on websites and branch portals are relevant for gaining a positive ranking in the search engine results pages. For this, website owners should ensure their data is rep­re­sent­ed con­sis­tent­ly across their online platforms. To make it easier for search engines to match the correct data, it’s a good idea to use the same format for NAP data as on their website and Google My Business. The extent of in­for­ma­tion and level of detail also have an effect on the local ranking. You should therefore extend your local citation ad­di­tion­al data such as cat­e­gories, pho­tographs of the business premises and opening hours.

• Ratings: Google also uses customer rec­om­men­da­tions on local websites as a ranking factor in local searches. To do this, the search engine focuses on Google+ Locations, a link between the Google Places pre­de­ces­sor service and the social network of the search engine provider.

From a website owner’s point of view, the biggest challenge of Ge­o­tar­get­ing is when a user does not wish to share their location. Technical methods such as GPS location and the sharing the location via the web browser require the user to ex­plic­it­ly give their per­mis­sion. IP targeting is tech­ni­cal­ly possible without the user’s consent, although in some cases this could lead to a violation of data pro­tec­tion laws. In addition, defining the user’s ge­olo­ca­tion by their IP can be imprecise and un­re­li­able. Many internet users have a proxy server installed in their browser, providing a further hindrance, as this could ef­fec­tive­ly conceal the sender address.

If ge­o­tar­get­ing methods make use of per­son­al­ly iden­ti­fi­able in­for­ma­tion (PII) or is im­ple­ment­ed without the user’s explicit per­mis­sion, it can stand in conflict with data pro­tec­tion laws. To avoid sending PII when col­lect­ing location-based in­for­ma­tion, Google Analytics advises users to avoid using GPS of fine-grained in­for­ma­tion about in­di­vid­ual users’ locations (data that reveals any area less than 1 square mile around an in­di­vid­ual user). Per­son­al­ly iden­ti­fi­able in­for­ma­tion also includes any in­for­ma­tion that can refer to a single in­di­vid­ual or reveals details about a suf­fi­cient­ly small group. Website owners, ad­ver­tis­ers, and app de­vel­op­ers are thus en­cour­aged to implement ge­olo­cal­iza­tion methods in such a way that a larger region is displayed, so as not to identify single in­di­vid­u­als.  Al­ter­na­tive­ly, it’s also possible to use survey pro­ce­dures in order to collect anonymous or pseu­do­nymized data. In this case, however, it’s important to ensure that it is not possible to relate the processed data to a single in­di­vid­ual. In addition, website visitors or app users should always be presented with an opt-out function so that they can ex­plic­it­ly turn off any ge­olo­cal­iz­ing functions if they so wish. For detailed in­for­ma­tion about ge­olo­ca­tion and data privacy in software ap­pli­ca­tions, refer to the United States’ gov­ern­ment’s handy guide to the Ge­olo­ca­tion Privacy Leg­is­la­tion. To be certain that your web content as well as your offers do not violate any legal reg­u­la­tions you should always ex­plic­it­ly ask for the user’s per­mis­sion to use their location data and inform yourself about the different kinds and the range of data use.