Do you want to know how an IP geolocation API works and if it’s safe? You should keep reading this post!
These days targeting customers based on their location is crucial for a marketing strategy.
Location-based marketing has been on the rise in recent years and companies are using location data to reach their target audience depending on factors such as upcoming events in their region, proximity to their store or branch, and more.
IP geolocation APIs are a very popular tool to find your clients’ location and customize your content based on it.
However, many people don’t know how it works and wonder if it’s safe. First, you need to know that to get customers’ locations, a geolocation API uses IP addresses.
What’s an IP address?
IP address stands for “Internet Protocol address.” The Internet Protocol is a set of rules for communication over the internet, such as sending mail, streaming video, or connecting to a website. An IP address identifies a network or device on the internet.
In essence, IP addresses are the identifier that allows information to be sent between devices on a network: they contain location information and make devices accessible for communication.
The internet needs a way to differentiate between different computers, routers, and websites. IP addresses provide a way of doing so and form an essential part of how the internet works.
These IP addresses can tell you a lot about the person using the computer, such as their location, zip, and time zone, among many other things.
All you need to access this information is a good IP geolocation API that can guarantee safety and accurate data. Our picks for the best APIs to achieve that are:
1. IpXapi
ipXapi offers one of the leading IP to geolocation APIs and global IP database services worldwide.
ipXapi is integrated with multiple channels delivering real-time IP data, which is why the database used by the ipXapi API is updated regularly, with up to 24 database updates per day.
With 11 years of constant optimization, the infrastructure behind ipXapi and the ipXapi API has grown to become highly scalable and efficient, currently handling between 2 to 3 billion API requests per day.
Data coverage is constantly increasing, with ipXapi presently supporting over 2 million unique locations in over 200.000 cities across the world.
2. IpGeolocation
IpGeolocation comprises above 25 million IP Address ranges which makes them one of the largest IP Data providers. Their purpose is to build proprietary crawlers that scan IP address allocations across all registries daily and trace their location to city-level accuracy. Apart from that, they partner with ISPs to keep their database up to date.
3. ipapi
This is an API cloud service allowing customers to automate IP address validation and geolocation lookup in websites, applications and back-office systems. The API is capable of determining a total of 47 unique data points for each processed IP address, including extensive information about the location, connection, ISP, currency, time zone and security attached to a given IP address.
The service is popular among businesses and developers worldwide and is used by more than 30.000 companies from all around the world.
Also published on Medium.