Skip to content
    Moz logo Menu open Menu close
    • Products
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Pro Home
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Home
      • STAT
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Home
      • Compare SEO Products
      • Moz Data
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis
      • Keyword Explorer
      • Link Explorer
      • Competitive Research
      • MozBar
      • More Free SEO Tools
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO
      • SEO Learning Center
      • Moz Academy
      • SEO Q&A
      • Webinars, Whitepapers, & Guides
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers
      • Agency Solutions
      • Enterprise Solutions
      • Small Business Solutions
      • The Moz Story
      • New Releases
    • Log in
    • Log out
    • Products
      • Moz Pro

        Your all-in-one suite of SEO essentials.

      • Moz Local

        Raise your local SEO visibility with complete local SEO management.

      • STAT

        SERP tracking and analytics for enterprise SEO experts.

      • Moz API

        Power your SEO with our index of over 44 trillion links.

      • Compare SEO Products

        See which Moz SEO solution best meets your business needs.

      • Moz Data

        Power your SEO strategy & AI models with custom data solutions.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Free SEO Tools
      • Domain Analysis

        Get top competitive SEO metrics like DA, top pages and more.

      • Keyword Explorer

        Find traffic-driving keywords with our 1.25 billion+ keyword index.

      • Link Explorer

        Explore over 40 trillion links for powerful backlink data.

      • Competitive Research

        Uncover valuable insights on your organic search competitors.

      • MozBar

        See top SEO metrics for free as you browse the web.

      • More Free SEO Tools

        Explore all the free SEO tools Moz has to offer.

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic
      Moz Pro

      NEW Keyword Suggestions by Topic

      Learn more
    • Learn SEO
      • Beginner's Guide to SEO

        The #1 most popular introduction to SEO, trusted by millions.

      • SEO Learning Center

        Broaden your knowledge with SEO resources for all skill levels.

      • On-Demand Webinars

        Learn modern SEO best practices from industry experts.

      • How-To Guides

        Step-by-step guides to search success from the authority on SEO.

      • Moz Academy

        Upskill and get certified with on-demand courses & certifications.

      • MozCon

        Save on Early Bird tickets and join us in London or New York City

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints
      Moz API

      Unlock flexible pricing & new endpoints

      Find your plan
    • Blog
    • Why Moz
      • Digital Marketers

        Simplify SEO tasks to save time and grow your traffic.

      • Small Business Solutions

        Uncover insights to make smarter marketing decisions in less time.

      • Agency Solutions

        Earn & keep valuable clients with unparalleled data & insights.

      • Enterprise Solutions

        Gain a competitive edge in the ever-changing world of search.

      • The Moz Story

        Moz was the first & remains the most trusted SEO company.

      • New Releases

        Get the scoop on the latest and greatest from Moz.

      Surface actionable competitive intel
      New Feature

      Surface actionable competitive intel

      Learn More
    • Log in
      • Moz Pro
      • Moz Local
      • Moz Local Dashboard
      • Moz API
      • Moz API Dashboard
      • Moz Academy
    • Avatar
      • Moz Home
      • Notifications
      • Account & Billing
      • Manage Users
      • Community Profile
      • My Q&A
      • My Videos
      • Log Out

    The Moz Q&A Forum

    • Forum
    • Questions
    • Users
    • Ask the Community

    Welcome to the Q&A Forum

    Browse the forum for helpful insights and fresh discussions about all things SEO.

    1. Home
    2. SEO Tactics
    3. International SEO
    4. Advise on the right way to block country specific users but not block Googlebot - and not be seen to be cloaking. Help please!

    Moz Q&A is closed.

    After more than 13 years, and tens of thousands of questions, Moz Q&A closed on 12th December 2024. Whilst we’re not completely removing the content - many posts will still be possible to view - we have locked both new posts and new replies. More details here.

    Advise on the right way to block country specific users but not block Googlebot - and not be seen to be cloaking. Help please!

    International SEO
    international seo crawling
    4
    6
    269
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as question
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with question management privileges can see it.
    • MarkCanning
      MarkCanning last edited by

      Hi,

      I am working on the SEO of an online gaming platform - a platform that can only be accessed by people in certain countries, where the games and content are legally allowed.
      Example: The games are not allowed in the USA, but they are allowed in Canada.

      Present Situation:
      Presently when a user from the USA visits the site they get directed to a restricted location page with the following message:

      RESTRICTED LOCATION
      Due to licensing restrictions, we can't currently offer our services in your location. We're working hard to expand our reach, so stay tuned for updates!

      Because USA visitors are blocked Google which primarily (but not always) crawls from the USA is also blocked, so the company webpages are not being crawled and indexed.

      Objective / What we want to achieve:

      The website will have multiple region and language locations. Some of these will exist as standalone websites and others will exist as folders on the domain. Examples below:
      domain.com/en-ca [English Canada]
      domain.com/fr-ca [french Canada]
      domain.com/es-mx [spanish mexico]
      domain.com/pt-br [portugese brazil]
      domain.co.in/hi [hindi India]

      If a user from USA or another restricted location tries to access our site they should not have access but should get a restricted access message.
      However we still want google to be able to access, crawl and index our pages.

      Can i suggest how do we do this without getting done for cloaking etc?

      Would this approach be ok? (please see below)

      We continue to work as the present situation is presently doing, showing visitors from the USA a restricted message.
      However rather than redirecting these visitors to a restricted location page, we just black out the page and show them a floating message as if it were a model window.
      While Googlebot would be allowed to visit and crawl the website.

      I have also read that it would be good to put paywall schema on each webpage to let Google know that we are not cloaking and its a restricted paid page. All public pages are accessible but only if the visitor is from a location that is not restricted

      Any feedback and direction that can be given would be greatly appreciated as i am new to this angle of SEO.

      Sincere thanks,

      George_Inoriseo Robert_Ripple 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • JackBen4100
        JackBen4100 last edited by

        o ensure SEO compliance while restricting access to certain countries, follow these 3 steps and keep in mind that these are critical to follow if you want to work on multinational and multilingual site:

        Page Blackout for Restricted Visitors: Instead of redirecting users, blackout the content and display a message. For example, https://fifamobilefc.com/ shows a message to users from restricted countries while allowing Google to crawl the pages.

        Implement Paywall Schema: Use paywall schema markup to signal to Google that content is restricted but not cloaked. This helps maintain transparency with search engines.

        Geo-Targeting: Employ geo-targeting to identify and present the message to users from restricted countries, while still allowing Google to access the content.

        By applying these methods, you can maintain SEO compliance while effectively restricting access to users from certain countries. Regular monitoring via Google Search Console ensures continued adherence to best practices.

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • Robert_Ripple
          Robert_Ripple @MarkCanning last edited by

          @MarkCanning said in Advise on the right way to block country specific users but not block Googlebot - and not be seen to be cloaking. Help please!:

          Hi,
          I am working on the SEO of an online gaming platform - a platform that can only be accessed by people in certain countries, where the games and content are legally allowed.
          Example: The games are not allowed in the USA, but they are allowed in Canada.
          Present Situation:
          Presently when a user from the USA visits the site they get directed to a restricted location page with the following message:
          RESTRICTED LOCATION
          Due to licensing restrictions, we can't currently offer our services in your location. We're working hard to expand our reach, so stay tuned for updates!
          Because USA visitors are blocked Google which primarily (but not always) crawls from the USA is also blocked, so the company webpages are not being crawled and indexed.
          Objective / What we want to achieve:
          The website will have multiple region and language locations. Some of these will exist as standalone websites and others will exist as folders on the domain. Examples below:
          domain.com/en-ca [English Canada]
          domain.com/fr-ca [french Canada]
          domain.com/es-mx [spanish mexico]
          domain.com/pt-br [portugese brazil]
          domain.co.in/hi [hindi India]
          If a user from USA or another restricted location tries to access our site they should not have access but should get a restricted access message.
          However we still want google to be able to access, crawl and index our pages.
          Can i suggest how do we do this without getting done for cloaking etc?
          Would this approach be ok? (please see below)
          We continue to work as the present situation is presently doing, showing visitors from the USA a restricted message.
          However rather than redirecting these visitors to a restricted location page, we just black out the page and show them a floating message as if it were a model window.
          While Googlebot would be allowed to visit and crawl the website.
          I have also read that it would be good to put paywall schema on each webpage to let Google know that we are not cloaking and its a restricted paid page. All public pages are accessible but only if the visitor is from a location that is not restricted
          Any feedback and direction that can be given would be greatly appreciated as i am new to this angle of SEO.

          By blacking out the page for visitors from restricted locations while allowing Googlebot access, you're ensuring compliance without hindering indexing. Implementing paywall schema can further clarify to Google that the restriction is based on licensing rather than cloaking. Just ensure consistent implementation across all restricted pages and adhere to Google's guidelines to avoid any issues.

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • MarkCanning
            MarkCanning @George_Inoriseo last edited by

            @George_Inoriseo hi george, i submitted a previous reply on here but can't see it anywhere.

            Firstly thank you for your feedback. I have some extra questions.

            Lets assume we have a Canadian version of the website and a US human visitor tries to visit that site or any page on the site. They should be able to browse to the site but an overlay would appear meaning they cannot use the site or proceed any further. The overlap would say te site is restricted in their location. I see other companies doing this. What way would google handle this:

            1. Could they proceed to crawl the website or would the javascript overlap prevent Googlebot from crawling and indexeing?
            2. If googlebot where to look at the hash information of the page companred to the hash of what a user sees would they be the same? I believe if their is a big difference in the hash this is a signal for cloaking - because it shows the information / page size is substantially different.
            3. Would it be wise to avoid user agent lookups in the code? Again i believe this can signal to Google to Googl that manipulation is taking place.

            I heard from a google offical that paywall schema might not be a great method.
            "Paywall markup would not be suited here since there's no log-in or paymeny that can be done to get access when in the wrong country".

            Thanks

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • MarkCanning
              MarkCanning @George_Inoriseo last edited by

              @George_Inoriseo thanks very much George.

              The website will have a .com domain and then subfolders will branch off that for different countries / languages. So the structure would be like this:

              domain.com
              doman.com/en-ca (english Canada}
              domain.com/fr-ca (french Canada)

              The company have licenses for certain countries and in countries where they don't have a license to operate (e.g. USA) users visiting our sites from those countries, should not be able to play. So on our Canadian website, if we detect a user is from USA (where we don't have a license) the user should get a message telling them they can't play. They should be able to visit the site ok, but the website would sniff the location and tell them that they can't play with the website blacked out.

              As you suggested we could have a javascript overlay that loads if the user is from the USA. I assume this would only look at the geolocation and not the user agent? Looking up the user agent would be a clear sign we are doing something different for users and Googlebot would it not? Would an overlay restrict Googlebot from crawling the site and because the user is seeing something different to Googlebot could this be perceived as cloaking?

              I spoke to someone at Google regarding paywall schema and the feeling was this: "paywall markup would not be suited since there is no log-in or payment that can be done to get access when in the wrong country".

              Thanks again George.

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • George_Inoriseo
                George_Inoriseo @MarkCanning last edited by

                @MarkCanning here is what I would do:

                Avoid Redirects for Blocked Regions: Instead of redirecting users from blocked regions to a different page, use a client-side overlay (like a modal window) to display the restricted access message. This method keeps all users on the same URL.

                Implement Paywall Schema: Applying the paywall schema is a smart move. It informs Google that your content restrictions are based on user location, not pay-to-access barriers, which helps avoid penalties for cloaking.

                Ensure Accessible Content for Googlebot: Allow Googlebot to crawl the original content. Ensure that your site’s robots.txt file permits Googlebot to access the URLs of region-specific pages.

                Use hreflang Tags for Multi-Region Sites: For multiple language and region versions, use hreflang tags to help Google understand the geographic and language targeting of your pages. This will also prevent duplicate content issues.

                Monitor and Adapt: Keep an eye on Google Search Console to monitor how these changes affect your site's indexing and adjust your strategies as needed.

                This strategy should help you manage SEO for restricted content effectively, while staying compliant with Google’s guidelines.

                Best of luck!

                MarkCanning 2 Replies Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • 1 / 1
                • First post
                  Last post

                Got a burning SEO question?

                Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.


                Start my free trial


                Browse Questions

                Explore more categories

                • Moz Tools

                  Chat with the community about the Moz tools.

                • SEO Tactics

                  Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers

                • Community

                  Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!

                • Digital Marketing

                  Chat about tactics outside of SEO

                • Research & Trends

                  Dive into research and trends in the search industry.

                • Support

                  Connect on product support and feature requests.

                • See all categories

                Related Questions

                • cellydy

                  Moving from single domain to multiple CCTLDs

                  cctlds international seo hreflang 301 redirects change of address tool

                  Hi, I have a website targeting 3 markets (and therefor 3 languages). I was currently using a single domain with each market being targeted in the following format: www.website.com/pl
                  www.website.com/de
                  www.website.com/hu It's clear to me by looking at organic results, that in my industry (Real Estate) Google is putting a large emphasis on local businesses and local domains. Top 10 organic results for all my keywords in all markets have country specific CCTLDs. I decided to migrate from a single domain strategy to a multi domain strategy. I own the domains. The new structure is www.website.com/pl -> www.website.pl
                  www.website.com/de -> www.website.de
                  www.website.com/hu -> www.website.hu All the website have been added to google search console and 301 redirects are in place and working correctly. The pages are all interlinked and have rel=alternate to each other. The sitemaps are all done correctly. My question is how do I tell Google about this. The change of address feature only works for changing one domain to one other domain. It's been a week and the old www.website.com domain is still showing up (even considering 301 redirects). Or do I just need to be patient and wait it out? Any tips?

                  International SEO | | cellydy
                  0
                • mkretsinger

                  Help! Choosing a domain for a European sub-brand when working as a partner in North America

                  Background: Let's say there's a European company ABC.com, they have some presence in the US already for a lot of product brands in a certain space (let's say they make widgets). ABC Co gets 1,600 searches a month and all of that volume centers around the widgets they are known for. ABC Co purchases a company that makes gears, let's call it Gears Inc (gears.com). Gears Inc. was known for making gears in Europe, but their brand is not known in the US (search volume 0). Ideally, I would keep the Gears Inc. brand and build up the presence in the US, separating it from ABC Co. ABC Co wants to maintain their brand and eliminate Gears Inc. But we've received permission to keep the Gears brand for bringing that product to the US ... we will have an uphill battle building up the brand recognition, but at least it won't get lost in what ABC Co is already known for in the US. (ie: we don't want calls for widgets). Domain Situation: ABC Co. has redirected gears.com (DA 1) to a subdomain: {gearmakers}.abcco.com (DA 66) ... they have agreed to place a landing page under that 301 that links to the regional domains (theirs in the EU and ours in the US/North America). They are unwilling to let us use or purchase gears.com OR 301 gears.com directly to our domain. What we're trying to do: build Gears Inc. as a recognizable brand when someone searches "gears inc", this domain would rank first create a simple "brand domain" that a less-tech-savvy users could easily navigate to needs to have recognition in US, Canada and Mexico
                  I don't know if this helps or provides anything more? The question is what do we use as our domain name? Any feedback is appreciated!

                  International SEO | | mkretsinger
                  0
                • edward-may

                  HELP: Incorrect Meta Tag description showing for the wrong search results

                  Hi Guys I'm stuck here! I have update the hreftags, updated the sitemaps. I have 3 top level domains and my zenory.com site is showing for the home page the wrong meta tag description, as you can see in the attachement the meta tag is showing the new zealand site meta tag description which is for zenory.co.nz Anyone know what might be going on here? I have also fetched the home page through WMT as well and its still returning the same results any advice would be much appreciated! Thanks

                  International SEO | | edward-may
                  0
                • Bush_JSM

                  Blocking domestic Google's in Robots.txt

                  Hey, I want to block Google.co.uk from crawling a site but want Google.de to crawl it. I know how to configure the Robots.txt to block Google and other engines - is there a fix to block certain domestic crawlers? any ideas? Thanks B

                  International SEO | | Bush_JSM
                  0
                • david.smith.segarra

                  Does Google's algorithm work the same in every country?

                  I can't help but feel this is a silly question! but does Google algorithm work exactly the same throughout all countries? I run a few sites in the UK and a couple in Spain but can't help but feel that my Spanish sites are harder to rank for. The sites that rank the best are business directories in Spain... whereas here in the UK you'd be lucky to find one on page one..

                  International SEO | | david.smith.segarra
                  0
                • modernmusings

                  Working with country specific domain names vs. staying with .com

                  I've recently inherited a client that has a country specific domain for Canada (.ca) but there is also a US branch for the company at the .com address. They have a direct competitor that operates also in the U.S. and Canada that has decided to operate entirely under the .com address and re-direct all .ca traffic to their .com address. When I compare the link analysis data for both the .ca, .com, and competitors site, I'm finding there is a huge difference between the .ca site and the competitors site, but not a huge difference between the .com site and the competitors site. For example, the domain authorities are as follows: myclient.ca  (Canadian branch) - 22 myclient.com (US branch) - 46 competitor.com - 53 When I do a brand search for my client in Canada, the Canadian branch website shows up first, but the American one is second. At this point, would it be better for my client to consolidate the two branches into the .com address and focus on increasing external followed links to the .com website? Or, is there merit in continuing to create a separate inbound link strategy for the .ca site? Thanks.

                  International SEO | | modernmusings
                  0
                • izaiasalmeida

                  How to rank in Google for a specific country?

                  Hi, I've a relative good ranking for a specific keyword in google.com (english queries (hl=en)), but searching for the same keyword in google.com.br (Brazilian Portuguese (hl=pt-BR)), my rank for that keyword is far worst. The question is: I need to do something specific to rank in google.com.br (hl=pt-BR)? I'm doing the regular link building. Creating some blogs, blogging for 10 days before droping my links, and creating link wheels the same way. The blogs I create to make links are written in Brazilian Portuguese, also, the blog that I'm trying to rank higher, is also written in Brazilian Portuguese. Sorry for the english, it's not my native language. Thanks

                  International SEO | | izaiasalmeida
                  0
                • jimmer

                  Country specific domains pointing to a .com site

                  Hello, I am new to seo so please be easy if this happens to be a "silly" question. My company has a .com site. We are expanding into global markets, focusing on specific countries right now. General question: Would I be penalized for duplicate content if I purchased country-specific domains and pointed them to the .com site? Thanks, Jim

                  International SEO | | jimmer
                  0

                Get started with Moz Pro!

                Unlock the power of advanced SEO tools and data-driven insights.

                Start my free trial
                Products
                • Moz Pro
                • Moz Local
                • Moz API
                • Moz Data
                • STAT
                • Product Updates
                Moz Solutions
                • SMB Solutions
                • Agency Solutions
                • Enterprise Solutions
                Free SEO Tools
                • Domain Authority Checker
                • Link Explorer
                • Keyword Explorer
                • Competitive Research
                • Brand Authority Checker
                • Local Citation Checker
                • MozBar Extension
                • MozCast
                Resources
                • Blog
                • SEO Learning Center
                • Help Hub
                • Beginner's Guide to SEO
                • How-to Guides
                • Moz Academy
                • API Docs
                About Moz
                • About
                • Team
                • Careers
                • Contact
                Why Moz
                • Case Studies
                • Testimonials
                Get Involved
                • Become an Affiliate
                • MozCon
                • Webinars
                • Practical Marketer Series
                • MozPod
                Connect with us

                Contact the Help team

                Join our newsletter
                Moz logo
                © 2021 - 2025 SEOMoz, Inc., a Ziff Davis company. All rights reserved. Moz is a registered trademark of SEOMoz, Inc.
                • Accessibility
                • Terms of Use
                • Privacy

                Looks like your connection to Moz was lost, please wait while we try to reconnect.