Should I Re-Direct Based Upon IP

[eventurerob]

I am working on an e-commerce store. There are 4 subdomains for 4 seperate languages. ie uk.business.com, fr.business.com etc

The client is asking that any French speaker (French IP address) is only shown the FR subdomain and so on for all languages.

Is this the best way of doing things, or am I better off without the re-direct.

[Matt-Williamson]

Hi Alex,

This is a good question - if I were you I would look at this whiteboard friday as it gives you insights into all your options for this scenario.

Also don't miss the next to last paragraph on redirection, which I personally avoided when I was in a similar situation to you, due to potential mix-ups. I chose the ccTLD path at the time, though I would heavily consider the subfolder option if presented with this challenge again...

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/international-seo-where-to-host-and-how-to-target-whiteboard-friday

Hope this helps...

[eventurerob]

Thanks Matt.

I've come to the same conclusion - to be honest, it's pretty obvious when you get your head around it. My problem is an incredibly difficult client (who doesn't speak English well) muddying the waters so much - it's nice to hear thoughts by someone who has a much clearer head than I have.

I can't do anything about the sub domains now but I agree folder are a nicer solution: That's another story though.

I'm pushing for a javascript based language pop up option based on non-matching IP's to the current sub domain.

I could talk about this one for hours - I can feel the grey hair forming every day with this project!

Cheers Matt.