GeoIP & Geo-Targeting

Available in:

Post Affiliate Pro , Post Affiliate Pro Ultimate , Post Affiliate Network

What is GeoIP & Geo-Targeting?

GeoIP technology determines a visitor’s geographic location (country, city, region) based on their IP address. Post Affiliate Pro integrates GeoIP functionality throughout the platform, enabling powerful location-based features:

• Country and city-specific commission rates
• Geographic fraud protection
• Location-based reporting and analytics
• SmartLinks geo-targeting for banner destinations
• Affiliate login location tracking

Enabling GeoIP

The GeoIP feature is a core feature that can be activated in:

1. Go to Configuration > Features
2. Enable the GeoIP Core feature
3. Optionally configure Google Maps API key for map visualizations

GeoIP Database

Post Affiliate Pro uses the MaxMind GeoIP database, which provides:

• Country detection - Over 99.3% accuracy
• City detection - Available for most regions
• Region/State detection - Where available
• Postal code - For supported regions
• Latitude/Longitude - For map visualization

The database is regularly updated to maintain accuracy.

Country-Based Commissions

One of the most powerful features of GeoIP is the ability to set different commission rates based on the customer’s location.

How It Works

When a sale is tracked, Post Affiliate Pro:

1. Detects the customer’s IP address
2. Looks up the country (and optionally city) from the GeoIP database
3. Matches the location against your commission rules
4. Applies the appropriate commission rate

Setting Up Country Commissions

1. Navigate to Campaigns > [Your Campaign] > Commission Settings
2. Click Add Commission Group or edit an existing one
3. Select Country as the location type
4. Choose the countries for this commission rate
5. Set the commission percentage or fixed amount
6. Save the configuration

Example Use Cases

City-Based Commissions

For even more granular control, you can set commissions based on city:

1. Select City as the location type when creating a commission group
2. Enter the city names (comma-separated)
3. Set the commission rate

This is useful for:

• Targeting specific metropolitan areas
• Running local promotions
• Adjusting for regional purchasing power

Commission Priority

When a sale matches multiple location-based commission rules:

• City-based rules take priority over country-based rules
• More specific rules take priority over general rules
• If no location rule matches, the default commission applies

Geographic Fraud Protection

GeoIP enables powerful location-based fraud protection across all tracking types.

Click Fraud Protection by Country

Prevent or decline clicks from specific countries:

1. Go to Configuration > Fraud Protection > Click Fraud Protection
2. Enable Check clicks from blacklisted countries
3. Enter the country codes to blacklist (e.g., CN, RU, IN)
4. Choose the action:
   • Don’t save - Clicks are silently ignored
   • Decline - Clicks are recorded but marked as declined

Sale Fraud Protection by Country

Block or decline sales from suspicious regions:

1. Go to Configuration > Fraud Protection > Sale Fraud Protection
2. Enable Check sales from blacklisted countries
3. Enter the country codes to blacklist
4. Choose the action (don’t save or decline)

Affiliate Signup Protection

Prevent affiliate registrations from certain countries:

1. Go to Configuration > Fraud Protection > Affiliate Signup Protection
2. Enable Check signups from blacklisted countries
3. Enter the blocked country codes
4. New signups from these countries will be declined or blocked

Login Protection

Restrict logins based on geographic location:

1. Go to Configuration > Fraud Protection > Login Protection
2. Enable country restrictions for:
   • Merchant logins
   • Affiliate logins
3. Enter allowed or blocked country codes

This adds an extra security layer by preventing logins from unexpected locations.

Map Overlay Report

The Map Overlay Report provides visual geographic analytics:

Available Metrics

Features

• Interactive world map - Click any country for detailed data
• Color-coded visualization - Darker colors indicate higher values
• Data table - Sortable list of all countries with metrics
• Date filtering - Analyze specific time periods
• Export options - Download data for external analysis

Google Maps API

For the map visualization to work properly, you may need to configure a Google Maps API key:

1. Go to Configuration > Features > GeoIP Core
2. Enter your Google Maps API key
3. The map will now display properly

Note: Domains registered before July 2016 may work without an API key.

SmartLinks Geo-Targeting

Combine GeoIP with SmartLinks to redirect visitors based on their location:

How It Works

1. Create a SmartLink with multiple destination URLs
2. Set country conditions for each destination
3. When a visitor clicks the link:
   • Their location is detected via GeoIP
   • They’re redirected to the matching destination
   • If no match, the default destination is used

Example Configuration

Use Cases

• Localized landing pages - Send visitors to their language version
• Regional offers - Direct to location-specific promotions
• Currency-specific pages - Show prices in local currency
• Compliance - Redirect based on regulatory requirements

Banner Destination by Country

Similar to SmartLinks, you can configure banner destination URLs based on visitor location:

1. Edit a banner in Campaigns > Banners
2. Add multiple destination URLs
3. For each URL, specify the target countries
4. Visitors are automatically redirected based on their location

Affiliate Login Location Tracking

Track where your affiliates are logging in from:

Features

• Last 20 login locations - View recent login IP addresses and locations
• Country, city, and region - Detailed location information
• Map visualization - See login locations on a map
• Fraud detection - Identify suspicious login patterns

Accessing Login Locations

1. Go to Affiliates > [Affiliate Name]
2. View the affiliate’s login history
3. See geographic location for each login

This helps identify:

• Compromised accounts (logins from unexpected locations)
• Multi-location affiliates
• Potential VPN usage

Country Code from Click

By default, the country code for a sale is determined from the sale request IP. However, this may fail if:

• The customer is using a VPN
• The sale is triggered from a server-side system
• The IP is internal or unrecognized

Post Affiliate Pro can fall back to using the click IP:

1. Go to Configuration > Features > GeoIP Core
2. Enable Try to recognize commission country code also from click IP
3. When the sale IP isn’t recognized, the click IP is used instead

This ensures more accurate geographic tracking for commissions.

Performance Considerations

For high-traffic installations with many impressions, GeoIP processing can impact performance. You can:

1. Go to Configuration > Features > GeoIP Core
2. Enable Disable GeoIP for impressions
3. This skips GeoIP lookup for impressions while maintaining it for clicks and sales

This is recommended if you have millions of impressions and don’t need geographic impression data.

Available Location Data

When GeoIP is enabled, the following data is captured:

Integration with Other Features

GeoIP enhances many other Post Affiliate Pro features:

Webhooks

Include ${#countrycode#} variable in webhook URLs to pass geographic data to external systems.

Reports

Filter transaction reports by country code to analyze geographic performance.

Email Templates

Use country data in email notifications to personalize communications.

Commission Groups

Combine geographic targeting with other commission group criteria for sophisticated commission structures.

Best Practices

1. Start with Country-Level Targeting

Begin with broad country-based rules before moving to city-level targeting.

2. Monitor Fraud Patterns

Use the Map Overlay Report to identify countries with high fraud rates, then add them to blacklists.

3. Test SmartLinks Thoroughly

Use VPN services to test that your geo-targeted SmartLinks work correctly for different locations.

4. Balance Granularity and Complexity

More specific rules (city-level) require more maintenance. Only use them when the business value justifies the complexity.

5. Review Performance Impact

If you have very high traffic, consider disabling GeoIP for impressions to maintain performance.

Related Features

• Map Overlay Report - Geographic reporting and visualization
• SmartLinks - Location-based URL redirection
• Fraud Protection - Comprehensive fraud prevention
• Commission Groups - Flexible commission structures