WordPress is one content management system that gives you so many options to customize your site or blog. You can build any kind of site using the platform plus there are thousands of themes and plugins to suit any need.
One of the features that could enable site owners to deliver personal messages to a target audience is the geotargeting feature.
There are so many benefits to using this feature and the great thing is that there is a plugin for it. The plugin is called Geotargeting WP and this review covers all the important details that you need to know.
You will be able to find out if the plugin is suitable for your targeting needs. Let’s get started with the review proper to find out about the features, benefits, pricing, and other info about Geotargeting WP.
About Geotargeting WP
Regarded as one of the best WordPress plugins for targeting content to specific locations, it is an API-based service for WordPress users.
Geotargeting WP enables you to create and target your posts for specific locations. It is also useful for blocking users from a specific region from seeing your content. Using this service you will be able to target contents, images, and videos for specific locations.
The software provides you with embed codes that will enable you to customize your WordPress site with Geo-based content. You can actually track your web visitors from different locations, using this software.
The software is designed to work based on users’ IP addresses. This has been found out to deliver accurate results for 99.99% of the time. It means that Geotargeting WP is a reliable service that meets all of your targeting needs.
Other features of this service include data cache, geo redirects, geo blockers, and geo flags. Is Geotargeting WP the most suitable service for your targeting needs and preferences?
The following sections will cover the features, advantages, and pricing of the service. These details will help you decide whether to opt for this service or seek another.
Features
This service doesn’t just offer to target features but also includes related services that help boost user experience. It is a robust solution that can be used to offer custom content and messages for users from specific regions.
Some of the most obvious features of Geotargeting WP are covered in this section:
1 – Geotargeting Pro
This is the ideal targeting tool for online marketers and affiliate marketers. Let’s say a marketer has a product that appeals to users from a specific country or region. All she needs to do is to use this tool in targeting her offers to that specific country.
If this tool is properly used, it could produce better returns on promoted offers. Also, offers can be customized to further appeal to those specific users.
The Geotargeting Pro is useful for targeting full pages or posts, sidebar widgets, menu items, templates, and partial content using shortcodes.
You can actually target a newly-created WordPress post or an existing one. The Geotargeting Pro feature can be used to show or restrict your content or offers. Whether regions, countries, or states, you can restrict your content and then add the shortcode for it.
The options that are available in this feature include hiding the entire content or showing a piece of it. Also, you can choose whether to show or never show in different regions, countries, cities, and states.
You can also use this feature to hide or show menu items based on the location that you intend to target.
2 – Geo Redirects
The Geo redirect feature enables you to redirect visitors based on the regions or countries they belong to.
To get the best results from this feature, you will need to create and optimize different landing pages for different countries. You will then use this feature to redirect visitors to suitable landing pages for their countries or regions.
Another option is to create landing pages with different languages and then redirect visitors based on their languages. To use the redirect feature, there are basic steps to follow:
Step 1 – The first step that you need to take is to create the rules that the redirection will follow.
There are a number of rules that you can create such as redirect from the front page to a specific page. In creating the redirect rules, you can make use of the AND/OR operators.
Step 2 – This is the step where you enter the destination URL. Choose the page or post that you would redirect your visitors to.
Step 3 – You would have to enter the redirection code that you want showing.
Step 4 – This is the step where you choose whether the redirect is one time or every time.
Once you have done all the above listed, you are ready to use the Geo redirect tool.
3 – Geo Blocker
As the name suggests, Geo Blocker is a feature that enables you to block visitors from a region or country. These visitors could be blocked from having access to your website or specific pages on your site.
If you want, you could also indicate your reasons for blocking those visitors.
There are also different blocking options that are available to you:
You have access to create any number of blocking rules such as block one page or different pages. Rules can also be set for matching referrers and visitors from search engines
You will be able to block any users based on their specific locations
This tool allows you to create unlimited blocks with just one click
You can add regions to any of the rules and have the shortcodes created.
4 – Target Grouping
You can use this tool for grouping different countries, states, or cities based on targeting options. These target groupings can then be used each time you want to publish content for members of the group. It’s a targeting feature that lets you save a lot of time.
After grouping, you will get a shortcode to include in your pages, posts, sidebars, or widgets.
5 – Hiding of Content
Targeting is a very helpful feature that aids site owners to deliver specific content to specific countries. After creating a single piece of content, you can target based on any of the options that you want.
If you like to hide your content from the user from a particular country, climate, or culture, you can do that. All you need to do is specify the content and the countries.
6 – Shortcode Creation
The use of shortcodes makes it very easy to select which pages or content areas to target. You will have to create the rules first before creating the shortcodes to use.
7 – Firewalls Support
Geotargeting WP has support for a wide range of firewalls. The supported firewalls include Sucuri, Cloudflare, Akamai, and Reblaze. It can also detect the actual location of any visitor by using the person’s IP address.
8 – A/B Tests
You can run A/B tests for your texts, content, and visuals to find out what works best. You could also run A/B tests for languages to use for targeting your users.
9 – Ajax Mode
Ajax mode helps to improve the speed of your targeting. It does this by loading all the filters and shortcodes the moment the page is loaded.
By restoring all these, the page load time is greatly improved.
Steps to Setting Up Geotargeting WP
After signing up for its service, you will receive access to the Geotargeting Premium IP database and plugins.
Payments that you are required to make are actually for the calls you make to its server. The calls will enable you to find out geographical info about your site’s visitors. The geotargeting feature then allows you to present or hide content from their views.
Installing Geotargeting WP is pretty simple and straightforward as you will find out in this section.
Step 1 – Register on Geotargeting WP website
You can do this by first signing up on the official website of Geotargeting WP after which you will be directed to the registration page where you will input personal details.
Enter those personal details which include your name, personal email address, and password, and then click on the Register button. You will have to verify your email address after you have submitted the registration details.
Step 2 – Buying Geotargeting Credits
You will need to login to your dashboard before you can use the targeting service.
After you login, you would be presented with the option to buy credits and also to receive your API keys.
Once you have purchased the credits, you can then download the Geotargeting Pro and also Geo Redirect plugins on your computer.
There is also a free account that you can use on your WordPress site but it comes with some restrictions. This free version can be downloaded directly from your WordPress site dashboard.
Step 3 – Installing the Pro Version
To install the Pro version, you will have to go to your WordPress dashboard ->Plugins -> Add New -> Upload Plugin -> Choose File.
Once you have installed the Pro plugin on your WordPress site, you can proceed to activate it.
Configuration of Geotargeting WP
Configuring your Geotargeting WP settings isn’t that difficult if you’re able to follow the guidelines outlined here. From the main Settings, you’ll have to enter the API key that you received and also the API secret.
This information can be accessed from your Geotargeting WP account dashboard Settings -> API key. You need to copy and then paste these details into your WordPress site before clicking on the Save Settings button.
To whitelist your site, ensure you enter your domain under Allowed Domains.
In order to turn on the cache mode, from your WordPress dashboard -> Settings -> turn on Cache Mode. This mode will help you save money if you’re using geotargeting on multiple pages across your website.
This mode is used to cache visitors’ locations and prevent Geotargeting WP from making extra API requests whenever they visit the other pages on your website.
By turning on the Debug Mode, you will be able to print out debugger information in your pages’ footer sections. The Fallback Country enables you to set default country for web visitors whose IP addresses cannot be detected.
If you need to set up a default country for bots and web crawlers, you can do this through the Bots Country settings.
A group of countries that have something in common may be put under a region. For example, you can have 3 – 5 Asian countries grouped into a region. These are some of the basic configuration settings that you can easily do on your own.
Pricing Plans
You can download and use the plugin for free; however API calls have to be paid for. Whenever a new visitor lands on your site using the geotargeting, charges are applied.
You can be smart about the way you use your credits by using API requests on unique visitors’ location. You could also exclude bots and crawlers from being charged.
You will be charged by Geotargeting WP based on the API calls that are made from your WordPress site. The price per API call is dependent on how much you’re spending with prices ranging from $0.0008 to $0.005 per API call.
Pros and Cons
Pros
- The service is quite cheap and very affordable for those who are running on low budgets
- It’s a great tool to use for detecting IP addresses of your visitors, targeting your post content, and delivering custom content to them
- The Geotargeting WP gives you a lot of targeting options that lead to better ROI for your marketing efforts.
Cons
- The geotargeting tool can be quite hard to use, especially for those who are new to WordPress.
Conclusion
Geotargeting WP offers you a robust API service that enables you to deliver content to specific people. You can use this WordPress tool to block visitors from specific regions, redirect visitors from a specific region, or serve custom contents to some visitors.
It is very affordable and quite easy to set up and start using once you follow this guide.
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I always thought that geotargeting is only used for paid traffic or local marketing. Didn’t know there’s a plugin that can actually do that. My guess is if you have a blog promoting digital products, it’s probably not necessary to use such a plugin. But if you’re an affiliate to Amazon for example, then redirecting the readers to their countries Amazon outlet can do your conversion some good.
Thanks for your comment Cathy! So true, site owners promoting digital products may not need to install the geo-targeting plugin. But if you are an Amazon affiliate promoting any kind of products through your website, you need to redirect customers to their rightful location. Appreciate you stopping by, drop by anytime!