International Site Geolocation Redirection (best way to redirect and allow Google bots to index sites)

[LincolnSmith]

I have a client that has an international website. The website currently has IP detection and redirects you to the subdomain for your country. They have currently only launched the Australian website and are not yet open to the rest of the world: https://au.domain.com/

Google is not indexing the Australian website or pages, instead I believe that the bots are being blocked by the IP redirection every time they try to visit one of the Australian pages. Therefore only the US 'coming soon' page is being properly indexed. So, I would like to know the best way to place a geolocation redirection without creating a splash page to select location? User friendliness is most important (so we don't want cookies etc).

I have seen this great Whiteboard Friday video on Where to Host and How to Target, which makes sense, but what it doesn't tell me is exactly the best method for redirection except at about 10:20 where it tells me what I'm doing is incorrect. I have also read a number of other posts on IP redirection, but none tell me the best method, and some are a little different examples...

I need for US visitors to see the US coming soon page and for Google to index the Australian website. I have seen a lot about JS redirects, IP redirects and .htaccess redirects, but unfortunately my technical knowledge of how these affect Google's bots doesn't really help.

Appreciate your answers.

Cheers, Lincoln

[FedeEinhorn]

Both should happen.

You should design your coming soon page in a way that allows visitors to visit the AU version meanwhile. Perhaps even adding a newsletter sign up form...

If you are already getting links, then Google is already aware of your site. They were probably not indexing the AU version as you were forcing them to go the US, which is an "under construction" page.

[LincolnSmith]

Actually, one last minor touch!

In this case, the US site is a 'coming soon' page. Is it necessary at this point to put the 'Choose Location' link in it (so that Google Bots follow the link to find the AU site, because they'll be initially redirected to the US site), or will the Google Bots find the AU site naturally through our other SEO efforts (and be able to index it because they've followed links that won't redirect them to the US site)?

[LincolnSmith]

Amazing. Exactly what I wanted to hear. After all the other posts that I've read, I think you've summed it up perfectly, as a lot of the other posts really didn't answer it technically or as specifically.

I agree with the setup proposed above and will see if my client's dev team can implement for him.

Thanks, Lincoln

[FedeEinhorn]

Subfolders ARE the best approach

As to your options, I would go with A, but if a visitor goes to say the Canadian version: domain.com/ca even though he previously accessed domain.com and was redirected to the AU version as it was the first time and a cookie was created/session var to store that, I wouldn't redirect him/her.

Let me put this differently.

AU visitor accesses domain.com, you redirect to domain.com/au (and you don't create any cookie, as the user actually didn't select a specific location).

Visitor accesses again, redirected to the AU version, but chooses to change the Country to CA, then he/she is redirected to domain.com/ca (a cookie/session var is now created as the user actually chose another option).

Visitor accesses again domain.com (he has the cookie/session var), he is redirected to the CA version regardless he is in Australia.

Visitor accesses again, but this time he types domain.com/au instead of the naked domain. He has the cookie, but I wouldn't redirect him... as I figure he typed the AU version because he WANTED the AU version.

That's what I would do. However, you can choose to redirect him anyway to the CA version as he has a cookie/sessio var stored. That's up to you.

Then on the 302, what I meant is that every redirection you make in this case should return a 302 status code, not a 301, as the 301s can be stored by the browser and then the user will be "forced" to the redirection. EX: he is in the AU page, chooses to go to CA, you create a 301 (instead of a 302) then next time he accesses the AU version he is redirected BY THE BROWSER to the CA version.

Hope that clears it up.

[LincolnSmith]

Hi Frederico,

Understood regarding the subdomains. I've always thought subfolders to be a cleaner and more professional approach, especially when it comes to SEO.

What would I ask for from a technical standpoint for the following two options. Appreciate you clarifying for me:

Option 1 (best option) - subfolders

An Australian visitor visits domain.com and is redirected to domain.com/au - the website remembers that this person is Australian. The same Australian visitor then visits the site from the US and the domain.com/au site shows.

The same as Logitech, they have an option to select a different country via a link at the bottom of the page, and if they do so, the website remembers for next time.

Option 2 - subdomains

Idea A: An Australian visitor visits domain.com and is redirected to au.domain.com the first time. domain.com remembers this preference the first time and redirects them there every time thereafter.

The same as Logitech, the user has an option to select a different location, which would update domain.com to remember a different location next time.

**Idea B: **An Australian visitor visits domain.com - the first time they visit they are prompted to select a location. This remembers the preference and every time thereafter would redirect them there.

The same as Logitech, the user has an option to select a different location, which would redirect them to domain.com to update their location preference.

Not sure I follow you on 302 redirect. You mean once the fix has been coded?

Thanks Frederico!

[FedeEinhorn]

Glad I was of help.

I do have some technical knowledge on redirections, however, as we are dealing with subdomains here, I'm not sure cookies will work. Remember that x.domain.com is a different domain than y.domain.com, thus making a cookie created by x.domain.com useless on y.domain.com.

I've checked a couple of sites that do this kind of redirection, and can't hardly found an example of it using cookies, I find lots of them using subfolders: domain.com/au/, etc. as the cookie is valid for all subfolders.

How about forgeting about a "Global" cookie, and just using one for the particular subdomain (if you still want to go with the subdomain route), here's how it will work:

domain.com -> redirects to the "best match" (US go to us version, AU go to au version, others go to whatever version you consider the "default").

Then, in the subdomain, you implement the lightbox pop-up (the less intrusive one you can come up with) and save their response, so if the user accesses the next day to au.domain.com they won't be prompted again to change the location, BUT if they access domain.com (a US visitor) he/she will be redirected to the US version and get the lightbox again.

You end up "basically" with the same results, however, it could be a little annoying for some users, at least I know I would be annoyed if that happened to me.

Give it a day and think if subfolders aren't better in your case, that should solve all problems, and implementation will as easy as 1,2,3 (I am capable of helping you with that approach). You won't be using cookies, but session variables (although cookies will allow you to remember the user choice for any time-frame you want).

Oops, forgot to mention, 302 redirects

[LincolnSmith]

Frederico, this is exactly the advice I was looking for. Just the simple statement that bots should be treated as a user and not 'forced' is obvious logic I've overlooked.

I believe that then the best scenario for my situation is the same as Logitech:

• User enters and is redirected by location when they visit domain.com
• When redirected to us.domain.com or au.domain.com they then have the option to change location using a link in the footer and by cookies are not forced to change location again

Now to have the developers figure out how to code this. I wonder if you might shed light on the technical terminology of exactly what style of redirection this is? IP redirection w/ cookies, plus choose location page that updates cookies?

Cheers, Linc.

[FedeEinhorn]

A few Webmaster videos ago, Google's Matt Cutts pointed out that that Googlebot should be treated exactly the same as if it was a regular person visiting your site, which you are currently doing.

However, you are now FORCING users to stay on "their" corresponding location, instead you should "suggest" but not force it.

Example: user access the naked domain: domain.com then you check his/her IP and redirect the the appropriate location, you must in this case, use some kind of "we already redirected him/her" method to avoid forcing the user to a specific country subdomain, you can use either sessions or cookies. Once you redirect, you create a cookie saving the option or a session variable. You now have the visitor in the location you want and you should offer an easy way to switch the location (check live examples, like logitech.com), a drop down menu for example on the footer. Now, IF a user accesses a location, say au.domain.com, you shouldn't do the automatic redirection, but instead, you could bring a lightbox pop-up suggesting the user to go to their "best match" location.

Using the above method allows Google to access any page, without forcing it to a specific location, plus, from my point of view, it is the easier and friendlier way for users too. If I type au.domain.com (while in the US) I probably want to see the AU version, if not, the page will suggest me to switch (and based on my response (closing the window or clicking a "stay here") the site should remember it and avoid re-asking).

Hope that helps!