Users have been asking me about geo targeting solutions since I started DinoMatic, and I've thought a lot about it, about coming up with a really solid solution that would work well with any theme and plugin, without any issues with page caches, etc. And most importantly, I wanted it to be super easy to use.
However, simply because of how geo targeting works, how WP blocks work, and how I want them to work together in a very intuitive way, it would require one-by-one integrations with a lot of themes and plugins out there, and that seems a lot of unnecessary effort. I decided I can make the plugin I had in mind for a theme or two, starting with Akurai, and I'm very thrilled to publish AkuraiGeo - The Perfect Geo Targeting Solution for Akurai Theme.
How it works
AkuraiGeo uses a different approach for geo location detection. Instead of getting the visitor's IP address and looking it up in a database to get the user's country, this plugin just uses an already available request header value that returns the user's country code directly. This header that contains the geo location information is provided by Cloudflare, so no need to update any database or anything, you can be 100% sure the geo location data is as accurate as it gets. Which also means that your website traffic need to be routed through Cloudflare in order for AkuraiGeo to work.
Obviously, it's more efficient to use the country code provided by Cloudflare than getting the visitor's IP and doing a database lookup. So you don't need to worry about your geo targeting solution slowing down your website, they will be as fast as they are now. Moreover, this makes it a very privacy-friendly way of user's country detection, no IP address is gathered and therefore saved anywhere anytime.
Using the plugin
AkuraiGeo is a geo location and targeting plugin specifically designed for Akurai theme, so the integration is seamless. After installing the plugin, you would work as if it was included in the theme, nothing unfamiliar, no setup required, no need for a huge page of options. Just activate the plugin and start using it right away.
Target Countries
On the plugin settings page, you need to select the countries that you target, and this selection is then used with all geo features.
Affiliate Links
Akurai theme has a field for the default affiliate link for every company. AkuraiGeo plugin adds an option to add country-specific affiliate links. If you leave any of them empty, the default one will be used.
Geo Listings
Akurai theme comes with several listing types, such as tables, grids, etc. and AkuraiGeo offers you to use any of them with geo options. Add a "Geo Listing" block and select what type of listing you want, as well as adjust listing options such as terms and filters and start adding reviews. For each of your target countries there's a tab to select reviews. On top of those, there's a default tab, where you select reviews for visitors from countries that aren't on your target list. If you leave any of the tabs empty, the default values will be used instead.
Review Message
By using "Review Geo Message" blocks on review pages you can display a simple message stating whether visitor's country is supported by the company or not. You can select among different layouts and even add a bonus text and affiliate link to the message. For this we use countries you select in Akurai Review Fields - Supported Countries field.
Geo Content
You can also display different content to visitors from different countries. That's done by using the "Geo Content" block. Add your content and only select the country or countries you want to display it, or select default for all.
More Features
This is the first version of the plugin yet, I have some ideas about it, keep an eye on new features quite soon. And as usual if you have any ideas feel free to open a ticket, I appreciate your feedback.
The plugin is available for purchase for €39.99 if you already have Akurai, or you can get it in a bundle with Akurai and save €20.
Check it out - AkuraiGeo