IP Geolocation Guide

An IP address is a unique identifier of a device on the Internet. IP geolocation is the data that represents the geographical location of that device. When you have IP geolocation data, you can determine such physical location information as the country, area and city as well as the ISP. 

IP geolocation databases are commonly used to determine users’ locations to present them with more personalized promotional content. 

For this example, we use iplocation.net to perform IP Lookup on 185.141.165.74.

The IP Lookup tool found the IP record on IPAPI, IP2Location and ipinfo.io databases. The information provided in the brackets next to the source name reveals where the data comes from and when it was updated. 

IP geolocation data is not always accurate, and you might notice that, depending on the database that the information comes from, your IP geolocation differs. This is due to the records that exist in these databases. 

It is possible to change the IP geolocation record. You can either request a geolocation update directly from the desired geolocation database website. Or you can contact us via the IPXO Help Desk so that we could update the geolocation data on major databases, including MaxMind, ip2location, DB-IP and ipinfo.

Before you create a ticket for our support team, take these actions:

Note: Geolocation databases might deny changes if the request doesn’t match the provided data. Ultimately, all databases operate differently, and it is up to you to figure out how they change IP records. Additionally, note that more specific requests (ISP, Domain, Provider, etc.) are not accepted. You can address these requests by contacting the desired geolocation database directly via their email or website. 

Database supervisors might ask traceroutes to your IP to confirm accurate IP geolocation data. Windows OS users can use the Command Prompt to provide this information. 

Enter cmd into Windows search to find Command Prompt and click it to open. 

Enter the following command (instead of your_ip, enter the IP you want to trace): 

Let’s use 185.141.165.74 as an example once again.

Note: The traceroute data depends on the location it is performed in. The tool checks connections from one PoP to another, mapping the route. 

In the Command Prompt, the first column shows the number of a hop. The second, third and fourth columns show the latency between the hops. The fifth column shows the address of the hop. The * symbol presents hidden latency information between PoPs due to security reasons. 

If you have to produce a traceroute, copy the results presented by cmd to a text file. Send this file to the database supervisor, who requested the traceroute information. 

Keep in mind that databases might not update their records instantly. Usually, it takes between 2-4 weeks, depending on the geolocation database. 

And what if databases have updated your record, but a third-party website still has the wrong information? If that is the case, this website is likely to use a database with the wrong record. The only thing you can do is try to figure out which database it is so that you could request a record change.