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Google: Avoid Redirecting Users Based on Location

Google: Avoid Redirecting Users Based on Location

Google’s John Mueller cleared up confusion surrounding redirecting users by IP location, saying that it should be avoided in most cases.

Site owners may adopt the practice of redirecting users or bots based on IP location thinking it is an appropriate way to handle traffic from other countries.

As an example, this could include redirecting users with a Canadian IP address to a different page than what a user located in the US would see.

As Mueller says, this is could have negative effects with respect to indexing and user experience.

Redirecting users is the same as redirecting bots, so if Googlebot is redirected it will “break indexing” in the sense that Googlebot will not be able to crawl and index the rest of the pages.

When it comes to geotargeting searchers, consider this advice which was also provided by John Mueller. Recommended best practices for geotargeting include using country code TLDs, and configuring your Search Console settings.

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SEJ STAFF Matt G. Southern Senior News Writer at Search Engine Journal

Matt G. Southern, Senior News Writer, has been with Search Engine Journal since 2013. With a bachelor’s degree in communications, ...