As mobile and local continue to collide, we’re seeing lots of evidence that localized content boosts user engagement. That also translates to higher performance and monetization for mobile ads. But one thing often ignored is what exactly we mean when we say “localized content”?

Some define it as geotargeting via IP address. That can tell you what part of the country someone is in — hardly a level of precision that anyone should get excited about. Meanwhile, in mobile search (just as it is online) geographic modifiers in search queries can be used to determine user intent and thus more relevant results.

There’s also display ad placement where users’ local intent is inferred from their presence within a location-centric app like Yelp. That can involve local ad copy and calls to action (i.e. click-to-call, maps, etc.). It can also involve geofenced ad placement which matches a device’s position to an advertiser’s defined service radius.

The latter utilizes GPS but is at the mercy of whatever app publishers are collecting and passing along to ad networks or ad servers. This often requires an opt-in (“This app would like to use your location”), and doesn’t contain deeper data to pinpoint location-related variables like user profiles, intent and predicted behavior.

Just Like Regular Data, But Bigger (more…)