Set up Geo Redirects

Geo Redirects is included in WPLocation Pro 1.1.0. It sends visitors between published pages on the same WordPress site according to the country detected by WPLocation Free. It does not need a separate add-on plugin, license or hosted lookup service.

Before you start

1. Install and activate WPLocation Free 1.1.0 or newer and WPLocation Pro 1.1.0 or newer.
2. In WPLocation → Settings, select a current, licensed local GeoLite2 Country database. Use Diagnostics to check a known IP address privately.
3. Publish an original page and a regional destination page. Geo Redirects does not accept products, posts, cart, checkout, account, login or purchase pages as endpoints.
4. Review your page cache and CDN. An upstream cache can answer before WordPress runs; original pages with active rules must bypass or vary that cache.

Create and preview a rule

1. Open WPLocation → Geo Redirects and choose the original page and regional destination.
2. Choose Only selected countries or Everywhere except selected countries, then select at least one country.
3. Set priority from 1 to 100. Lower numbers win when several rules match the same original page.
4. Leave the rule paused, save it, and use Preview a decision for a matching and a non-matching country.
5. Activate the rule. Test through the real public URL from relevant countries and through your CDN or page cache.

A matching page visit receives a temporary HTTP 302 redirect. A chain is resolved to the final page in one redirect. Rules that form a loop are rejected when saved; an unexpected loop also fails closed at runtime. If location is unknown or the target is blocked by a Free country rule, the original page is shown. Query strings from the original URL are not forwarded.

Offer a visitor choice

Put on a regional destination page and replace 123 with the original page ID. The link lets a visitor stay on the original page for 30 days. You can also put the shortcode on the original page without source; after a visitor chooses to stay, its link resumes regional routing.

The choice uses a first-party, HTTP-only SameSite Lax cookie named wpl_geo_stay_<site>_<page> containing only 1. The feature does not store visitor IP addresses, country histories or redirect analytics. Describe country routing and the optional cookie in your site’s privacy information.

What Geo Redirects does not change

• WooCommerce product, category, cart and checkout country checks remain Pro’s separate rules.
• Admin editing, previews, REST/API requests, non-page routes and non-GET/HEAD requests are not redirected.
• There are no external destinations or permanent 301 rules.
• Redirects are not a security boundary for private content or proof of legal residence. IP location is approximate.

Cache, search and troubleshooting

WPLocation sends no-store headers for original pages with active rules and requests supported local cache purges when rules change. A CDN or full-page cache may answer before PHP runs. Bypass or vary original URLs by visitor country and the choice cookie, purge stale entries, then test matching, non-matching, unknown-country and choice requests. See the cache and CDN guide.

Keep regional pages reachable through ordinary links and review your own canonical tags and indexing strategy. A redirect destination is a separate published page, and search crawlers may be detected in a different country. If a route does not work, first check the Free database and Diagnostics, the saved rule’s Active status, its country and priority, the destination’s Free visibility rule, and the response headers from your CDN. Use country detection troubleshooting for lookup problems.

Rules stay in WordPress when Pro is deactivated or removed. Deactivating Pro pauses redirects; reactivating it restores active rules. An expired license does not switch off an installed Pro plugin, but updates and support require an active entitlement.