Geolocation FAQ

A geolocation session begins when a visitor first visits a page with a geolocation trigger and ends when either the visitor closes the browser, or after 25 minutes of inactivity (this might vary slightly between browsers and the server on which the website is hosted). For example, if a visitor arrives at the homepage, then visits several other pages and leaves, this will only be counted as one session.

Yes! You can download If-So and start using the geolocation condition completely for free.  Users receive 250 sessions for free monthly.

In case you run out of geolocation sessions, If-So will ignore the geolocation condition and will check the condition of the next content version. If all the dynamic versions are set with a geolocation condition, or in the case that none of the conditions are met, the default version will be displayed.

If you are using our Geolocation DKI shortcodes, you can set a fallback value that will be displayed in this case. Simply add the parameter fallback=”your-value” to trigger shortcode:

”your-value”

[ifsoDKI type=”geo” show=”country” fallback=”your-value”]

Nope! If a user visits more than one page containing a geolocation trigger during the same visit, If-So will only count it as one session. A session will only be counted if a user visits a page with a geolocation-based trigger.

Yes. 

If you run out of monthly geolocation sessions you can subscribe to one of our geolocation plans at any time.

To prevent If-So from counting a geolocation session when users browse from page to page and to optimize the website performance, If-So stores a session with the user’s location and uses the data during the user’s journey.

A geolocation session begins when a visitor first visits a page with a geolocation trigger and ends when either the visitor closes the browser or after 25 minutes of inactivity (this might vary slightly between browsers and the server on which the website is hosted).

My sessions count doesn’t seem to behave as described

A problem with the session count is usually caused by one of the following:

1. Your website (server) doesn’t store sessions
2. Bots are visiting the site

Troubleshooting – step-by-step

1. On your WordPress dashboard, go to If-So > Geolocation and check your sessions count.
2. In a new incognito window, visit a page where you use the geolocation service (a page with a trigger, Geolocation DKI shortcode, conditional Elementor or Gutenberg block, or similar).
3. Go back to the If-So > Geolocation page, refresh the page, and check the count.
   A single geolocation session should be counted
4. Go back to the incognito window, refresh the page, and recheck the session count.
   No session should be counted.
5. If a session was counted, it might indicate that it wasn’t stored on your browser. Go to If-So > Settings, and check the “Disable use of PHP sessions” option.
6. Repeat steps 1 to 4.

If the problem wasn’t solved, there are good chances that the problem is bots visiting your website.

1. Go to If-So > Settings and check the “Page caching compatibility” option. It might prevent or at least reduce the sessions overcount.
2. If the problem persists, go to If-So > Settings and check the “Log geolocation requests.” Checking the option will create a log file containing all geolocation requests, including the IP and the exact time.
3. Check the geolocation log to see if you see IPs with more than a single record appearing in a short period or ones that repeat a lot. If you find such IPs, you can enter them here and try to gather more information regarding their source. For example, if the IP points to a data center (like Google, Amazon, etc.), it could indicate that it’s a bot.

The example below shows an IP belongs to a data center

*Please note, enabling the geolocation log file might affect the loading speed of pages with a geolocation condition. We highly recommend disabling the log once you receive the relevant information.

Blocking an IP

If you decide to block a certain IP, add the code below to your function.php file, and replace the XX.XX… and YY.YYY… with the IPs you decided to block.

The code will only block the IPs from the geolocation functionality, not from accessing the site.

add_filter('ifso_exclude_from_geo',function($exclude){ $exclude['ip'] = ['XX.XX.XXX.XXX','YY.YYY.YYY.YYY']; return $exclude; });

If-So uses an IP-to-location database in order to get the user's location. Using the geo data as detected by If-So for any reason is possible using the following code:

require_once(IFSO_PLUGIN_BASE_DIR. 'services/geolocation-service/geolocation-service.class.php');
$geo_data = \IfSo\Services\GeolocationService\GeolocationService::get_instance()->get_user_location();

Please bear in mind that IP-to-location services (any service, not just ours) are not 100% accurate. Learn more about IP-to-location services and how they work.

The number of sessions is the total number for all your domains.

Yes, we do. Upon purchasing the Geo Super Plan (100,000 monthly sessions), you'll be able to log in to your account and upgrade the package. The price for an additional 50,000 monthly sessions is $12.50/month on a yearly subscription basis. You can purchase as many packages as you like. To upgrade a package:

1. Log in to your account.
2. Find your geolocation license.
3. Click "Upgrade license".
4. Select a package and proceed to checkout.

Yes, you can upgrade an existing license at any time. Click here to learn how.

Your monthly session quota can be found in two places:

1. On your WordPress dashboard, under If-So > Geolocation

2. On your If-So account > License Keys (tab) > License details

No geolocation service is 100% accurate. The accuracy of a location depends on many factors, the most important being the ISP of the address. Accuracy is generally higher for fixed lines than it is for cellular networks. Read more about IP based geolocation accuracy.