IP and Location Targeting – Does it work?

Search engine technology is improving everyday. The main players – like Google, Yahoo and Bing – are always trying to improve the experience or relevancy of results for their users.

However, no matter how much they improve, they are to a certain extent at the mercy of ISPs (Internet service providers) when tailoring search results for each of its searchers.

For instance, if you market your business using Google Adwords, you have the option to Geo-target your ads to a specific location. You can pretty much go as close as you like to a specific location or postcode, but how exact is it?

When targeting this way, you are basically targeting  a users IP address, which essentially should tell Google where you are located, and then they will be able to use that data to find your ad and then display it. Sounds great…

And it is great, but there is one major flaw. If you’re not careful and do not monitor your account using these settings and you’re targeting a big city, you can find yourself paying for lots of clicks which could be  irrelevant. Some advertisers assume that as they are targeting a specific location, that lots more keywords are suddenly more relevant and may even decide to start using broad match keyword targeting . And you can see why. I am targeting my specific area, those searches are relevant to me, so off we go.

So who’s at fault? Well, in most cases people like to look straight at the guys taking your money, i.e. Google, but in reality it is not their fault. It’s more the fault of the ISPs. In a lot of cases an ISP may be based in London with a client in Scotland but, as they use a bank of servers in London, the Scottish clients then appear to be in London.

What can I do to ensure this does not happen?

One of the ways in which search engines are improving (or dare I say monitoring) its searchers is based on their location. If you are based in London and are looking for a plumber then, depending on the search engine you use, you will find results that show plumbers in London. Which is a good thing, of course.

Geo Modified Keywords are used every day. If you need a plumber then it’s most likely you would add your location to any search i.e. london plumbing services. This is what is called a Geo Modified Keyword. By adding the location, you have changed a general search into a specific search and altered the search results to be specific to your area.

Some advertisers will use a mix of Geo-targeting and Geo Modified Keywords. However, depending on the product or service you sell, you will most likely see better results from using the Geo Modified Keywords.

So IP Targeting does work. However, the more specific an area you target, the more chance there is for error.