How to Improve Ad Targeting Without GPS Location Data

It’s a challenge to get geolocation for ad targeting just right. If you’re running a campaign aimed at business travelers passing through airports, you know where you want your ads to appear, but much of the available inventory doesn't include usable GPS data.

Targeting geographically is an option, but knowing that an impression comes from London doesn't tell you whether the connection is associated with Heathrow Airport, a hotel, or a residential neighborhood.

We had a lot of conversations about this very topic at DMEXCO this year. GPS can provide precise device location, but it’s not always available. Advertisers need alternate ways to get geolocation data.

IP geolocation can fill that gap. It's a location signal available across environments, and ongoing improvements in its accuracy make it more and more valuable for targeting.

We’re now enabling even further location specificity. Combining accurate IP geolocation with building-level Wi-Fi data, advertisers can understand more about physical environments in relation to their inventory.

Why Location Targeting Without GPS Is Challenging

Location data helps advertisers decide which impressions to bid on and whether they meet a campaign's geographic requirements. But access to precise device location varies. Mobile users can restrict location permissions, browsers require consent to share precise coordinates, and connected TVs often have limited access to GPS.

IP geolocation helps close that gap, providing geographic context across these environments even when device location isn't available. And with more accurate data, advertisers can make more confident targeting decisions.

Better IP Geolocation Where Most IP Geolocation Goes Wrong

IP geolocation is widely used in advertising, but determining where an IP address is actually located is more complicated than looking up its registration information.

IP addresses can be registered in one country and used in another. Network infrastructure changes, address allocations move, and routing arrangements can make geographic assumptions unreliable.

We've also observed a more fundamental problem with how the industry evaluates location accuracy.

When IP geolocation providers disagree, adtech platforms often resolve the discrepancy through consensus. If most providers place an IP address in one country, that becomes the accepted answer for campaign reconciliation and billing. (Understandably so! Disagreements create costs, and consensus offers a convenient way to settle them.)

But agreement between providers isn't necessarily evidence of accuracy.

Legacy IP data providers rely on third-party data sources. Consensus can reinforce the same errors across multiple datasets. A provider that independently corrects the mistake may even appear less reliable because its answer differs from everyone else's.

This is why we believe accurate geolocation needs independent measurement.

Using Internet Measurement to Verify Location

We use ProbeNet, our internet measurement platform, to gather evidence about where IP addresses are physically plausible.

ProbeNet collects observations from a globally distributed network of points of presence. By analyzing latency and other network measurements, we can evaluate geographic claims against how traffic actually moves across the internet.

We also provide geographic accuracy information, including an accuracy radius, to communicate how precisely the available evidence supports a location estimate.

That makes location data more useful for advertisers. A geographic targeting decision backed by independent measurement provides a strong foundation.

It also helps buyers and sellers evaluate location claims with greater confidence, particularly when geographic eligibility affects the value of an impression. See more in our State of AdTech 2026 report.

There’s also another layer of location context that can come into play. 

Building-Level Location Data Is Now Possible

We laid out this hypothetical in the introduction, with two impressions originating from the same city. While one is related to a public Wi-Fi network at an airport, the other comes from a residential connection a few miles away.

They represent different opportunities for an advertiser promoting travel services.

We developed IPinfo Places to make that context available through IP data. Places maps public Wi-Fi IP addresses to physical venues, including airports, hotels, stadiums, shopping centers, and conference centers. We observe Wi-Fi networks directly and match those observations to real locations using public venue information.

The resulting data identifies the venue associated with a connection, along with its category and building-level location. For example, an IP address might be geolocated to Stanwell, a village near London's Heathrow Airport. That doesn't reveal much about the surrounding environment.

With Places, we can identify an observed public Wi-Fi network run by Heathrow Airport and add that venue context to the IP address.

Importantly, this works without accessing an individual's GPS coordinates or advertising identifier. Places describes the venue network related to a connection rather than tracking a particular person's movements.

How IP Geolocation and Places Improve Ad Targeting

Combining reliable IP geolocation with venue information creates opportunities to target advertising based on unique internet traffic environments.

That additional context can help advertisers identify relevant inventory even when GPS data is unavailable.

Reach Travelers Through Airport and Hotel Networks

Travel advertising is a particularly clear example.

An advertiser promoting airport lounges, hotels, or travel services may want to reach inventory connected to airports and hospitality environments.

Traditional IP geolocation can identify impressions originating in a city with a major airport. Places can add information about whether an IP address is associated with an observed airport or hotel Wi-Fi network.

This gives advertisers a more relevant signal for campaign targeting than geographic location alone.

For publishers and SSPs, the same information can help distinguish travel-related inventory from generic city-level supply.

Make Sports and Event Advertising More Relevant

Major sporting events and conferences attract large audiences to specific physical venues.

An advertiser running a campaign around a football match, for example, could use venue context to identify a stadium's public Wi-Fi network traffic.

Combined with the timing of the event and other campaign criteria, that information can help advertisers identify relevant advertising opportunities without requiring device GPS data.

Similar applications exist for convention centers and trade shows, where the environment related to a connection may be more informative than its geographic coordinates.

Give Publishers More Ways to Differentiate Inventory

The value of venue data extends beyond campaign targeting.

Publishers and SSPs are constantly looking for ways to help buyers understand the quality and relevance of their inventory. Geographic information contributes to that evaluation, but broad location categories can leave meaningful differences between impressions unexplained.

A hotel Wi-Fi network impression may be particularly relevant to a travel advertiser. An impression associated with a convention center could have greater value for a B2B campaign running alongside an industry event.

With Places, sellers can describe those environments using observed network data.

We've already seen how this can affect inventory valuation. Our customer Froyoo found that enriching inventory with venue context could increase its value by up to three times compared with generic inventory.

Location Data Can Also Help Advertisers Verify Inventory

The same information that makes targeting more relevant can also help buyers assess location claims.

Suppose inventory is marketed as originating from a premium airport environment. A buyer needs some basis for evaluating whether that description is supported by the underlying connection data.

Accurate IP geolocation can help verify the geographic location. Places adds evidence about whether the IP address is associated with a Wi-Fi network mapped to the claimed venue.

These signals provide different kinds of verification.

An IP address connected to an airport network doesn't establish that a particular person is physically inside the airport at the moment an impression is served. It does, however, provide observable context that can help buyers evaluate the inventory being offered.

This distinction matters as advertisers become more selective about traffic quality and the data used to justify inventory pricing.

Venue context can complement other IP intelligence signals, including information about network infrastructure and residential proxy activity. Together, they give buyers and sellers more evidence for understanding the traffic behind an advertising opportunity.

The Next Opportunity in Location-Based Advertising

GPS will continue to be valuable for location-based advertising where precise device location is available and appropriate to use. But advertisers have a much broader opportunity to improve how they interpret location across the inventory they already buy.

Better IP geolocation provides a more reliable geographic foundation. Independent internet measurement helps establish confidence in that information, while Places adds context about the physical environments associated with observed public Wi-Fi connections.

For advertisers, this creates opportunities to reach more relevant inventory without depending on device-level location permissions. For publishers and SSPs, it offers a way to describe and differentiate inventory using information that previously wasn't available.

We're seeing location targeting evolve beyond geographic coordinates. Knowing where a connection originates is valuable. Understanding the surrounding environment can make that location much more meaningful.

The opportunity is to put both signals to work.