What is an IP geolocation service?

IP geolocation is the process of determining the geographic location of a device connected to the Internet using its IP address. Every device connected to the internet, whether it's a computer, smartphone, or IoT device, is assigned a unique IP address (that can be an IPv4 or IPv6 address). By analyzing the IP address, along with additional data, geolocation databases can pinpoint the approximate location of the device. Generally the most accurate value is the country location, while the additional geolocation fields such as region, city and latitude/longitude are more an estimation and cannot be considered accurate to phisically locate an Internet user.

What are key benefits of using IP geolocation?

From targeted advertising and fraud prevention to content localization and personalization, the ability to estimate the geographic location of Internet users opens up to many possibilities for businesses seeking to better understand and engage with their audience. In cybersecurity knowing the geolocation of an IP address is extremely important to get valuable insights about the IP address: you may want to know why an IP address located in a specific country has accessed a specific web page, or why an IP address located from a different country tried to login on a web panel, or you may want to block visitors from specific countries from accessing your website.

Example IP geolocation data for an IPv4

Example IP geolocation data for an IPv6