The geo-location feature by Google has seemingly 101 different uses that marketers can take advantage of. Being able to know where your visitors are coming from in a real world sense can really help your ad targeting to where merchants can open new locations. Sure, you can tell a lot from the data that comes from geo-location, but how much faith should we put into the accuracy of location data?
This is where you all come in. Steve Cameron of Spain-based digital advertising firm, AdVent Communication, wants everybody’s help answering this very question.
A simple survey was set up by Cameron to submit the results of where Google thinks you are when you visit a site on mobile or desktop and your real life location.
The results that have come in so far have actually been pretty mixed. One one site, the location results range form spot-on to “holy cow, how could you be this wrong?” There were visitors who were shown to be thousands of miles from where they actually were. But more data is need to get the proper analysis.
You can help out by completing the Are You Hiding from Google? test on the AdVent site by following the instructions there. There is even an instructional video that appears below.
The survey only takes a few minutes, and you’ll need to access to a Google Analytics account. Being able to submit results from both your mobile device, as well as your desktop will really help out the folks at AdVent. Once you’re done, you’re encouraged to share the link to the survey with others: goo.gl/ryOD6i.
Search Engine Land will be working with Cameron to publish the results once enough entries have been collected.