OpenX Blog

Content Developer is running a detailed article introducing geo-targeting, discussing the reasons for using it and their experience implementing geo-targeting using the Openads MaxMind plugin.

“I wasn’t familiar with Openads before this project, but am very quickly becoming a fan. The power it gives the publisher who wants to control their ad inventory is pretty impressive for an open source application.”

So what is geo-targetting?

“In a nutshell, geo targeting is the process of capturing a user’s ip address or other identifying information, checking that info against a database that suggests the likely geographic location of that user, and then serving up targeted, customized content based on those results.”

Openads publishers use geo-targeting to more accurately target advertising. This allows them to charge higher CPM rates since they can guarantee that the advertising is hitting a particular demographic based on location.

“Well, one nice thing about OpenAds is that most of the geo targeting groundwork is done for you in the existing code.”

“MaxMind offers lite versions of some of their databases that you can download and install into OpenAds for free. I went this route and installed their GeoLite City, which is similar to their more robust GeoIP® City Database paid version, just not as accurate and with no support.”

There’s a lot of detail in the article which will be of interest to Openads publishers who haven’t look at geo-targeting before and some good links to follow for more information.

Find out more about the Openads MaxMind plugin today.