Geotargeting plugins never work

I need to either hide or show some content within pages to specific countries. However, every single WP Geotargeting plugin I have used has failed. I have checked version compatibility, checked out a few paid and free options and all result in the same thing.

What happens is the content I am trying to "show" in another country hides for me accordingly but when using a VPN, or asking a friend in said country (Tested in Japan, Germany, Croatia, and Oman) it doesn't show the content for them.

I've even asked them to make sure the browser language isn't in english either.

Am I approaching this the wrong way? I need some advice OR if you have used a plugin that worked flawlessly that'd be awesome.

Site in question: TapeACall.com/blog

Right now anyone in Croatia, Germany or Japan should be able to see the first paragraph read: "iPhones can do some pretty neat things..."

Others should see: "The good news is that you do not need.." as the first paragraph.

I'm currently on my 5th plugin test using the GeoTargeting Lite Plugin: https://wordpress.org/plugins/geotargeting/

When debugging with it's url debug tool I can see the content but if I VPN or have a friend from one of those countries test, they still don't see the correct version.

Topic geo-data plugins Wordpress

Category Web

1
answered at

Although this is not the place for plugin support (or recommendations), I assume that you've asked the googles for ideas. A quick search reveals several sites that have documented/listed geotargeting apps.

But, you say that you have friends in other countries that test it for you. Have you watched 'live' Google Analytics to see if your analytics are working? Create a special page just for your testing friends. Ensure that GA is enabled for that page. Then have them visit the page (multiple times) and then use GA to dig down into that special page to see if the geolocation is working properly.

Note that you didn't ask about GDPR, and tracking visitors based on their location, so not going to get into that (just to remind you to be aware of GDPR as related to your site).

But a test to ensure that you are properly able to track the geolocation is the first step. The next step is to test geoloation with a plugin and see if the special page access is reported properly by the plugin (should match your GA information).

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