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How geolocation works in GLC

GLC's Geolocation detects your visitors' location and displays your store in their preferred language and currency. This makes shopping seamless and helps increase the chances of completing a purchase.

This article explains how Geolocation detects your visitors, the two ways it can localize your store, and how redirections are counted.

I. Understanding Geolocation​

When a visitor arrives at your store, GLC detects their country based on their IP address and matches it with your Shopify Markets. GLC then recommends, or automatically applies, the most relevant shipping country, language, and currency.

With Region detection enabled, GLC can go one step further and use the visitor's region, such as a state or province, for eligible countries. Its availability depends on your plan.

II. Two Available Models​

Show a recommendation modal (Best for SEO performance)​

Shows a friendly pop-up suggesting the best shipping country, language, and currency for the visitor's location. Visitors can confirm or change their preferences before anything is applied.

Recommended if:

  • You want to preserve your SEO structure
  • You want customers to control their experience
  • You prefer a non-intrusive approach
  • You want to show Geo Promotions inside the modal

Automatic switching​

GLC instantly adjusts the language and currency based on each visitor's location, without requiring any action on their part. This ensures that every customer sees your store in a format that is familiar and relevant to them from the very first visit.

  • Language adaptation: The store automatically switches to the visitor's native language according to their country and region, allowing them to navigate your store comfortably and intuitively.
  • Currency conversion: Prices are instantly converted to the local currency, providing clarity and convenience throughout the purchasing process.

Recommended if:

  • You want a fully automated localization experience
  • Your markets and currencies are already well configured
  • You want minimal friction for international customers

III. When a Visitor's Country Is Not in Your Markets​

If a visitor's country doesn't belong to any of your markets, the Geolocation modal displays a dedicated message, for example: "We don't currently ship to Germany. Please select your shipping country." Visitors can then choose a shipping country you serve.

You can customize this message in the modal's Content settings, where {country_name} is replaced with the visitor's country. See Set up geolocation.

IV. Geolocation and Shopify Markets​

GLC follows your Shopify Markets configuration. Markets, countries, languages, currencies, and domains are all managed in Shopify, and GLC uses them to determine the best options for every visitor.

V. How User Redirections Are Counted​

A User Redirection is counted each time GLC successfully sends a visitor to another market or URL. Your plan sets how many User Redirections you get each month. To see what your plan includes, go to Pricing in GLC.

Counted:

  • Automatic switching to the matching market or URL
  • A visitor accepts a recommendation and is redirected
  • A visitor changes their location or language in the selector and is redirected

Not counted:

  • A recommendation is shown but not accepted
  • Visitors who stay on the default market
  • 404 URL redirects
  • Admin previews, bots and crawlers, and failed redirects

If your plan has a monthly limit, it resets at 00:00 on the 1st of every month, based on your store's time zone. When you reach the limit, your Geolocation setup is kept, but counted redirects pause until the reset or until you upgrade. The selector stays visible, but actions that need a counted redirect are blocked. Redirects resume automatically after the reset, with no need to turn anything back on.

Once you've used 80% of your monthly User Redirections, GLC shows a warning on the Home page and in the Geolocation Analytics tab, including how many you have left and when they reset. To compare plans and see what happens when you change plans, see New GLC Plans and Free Loyalty Changes.

VI. Geolocation Analytics​

The Analytics tab in Geolocation shows how Geolocation performs on your store, including detected visitors, user redirections, redirect rate, and your top countries and markets. Analytics become available once Geolocation is enabled. To learn what each metric means, see View Geolocation analytics.

Conclusion​

Geolocation helps every international visitor feel at home from the very first click. By choosing between a recommendation modal and automatic switching, you can balance customer control, SEO performance, and convenience, and create a smoother shopping experience for global visitors.

If you're still deciding between the recommendation modal and automatic switching, or you have questions about how User Redirections are counted, email us at [email protected]. We'll help you choose what works best for your store.

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