Google: When Redirecting For Geotargeting, Do Not Redirect Googlebot

Oct 4, 2021 - 7:21 am 1 — by

Google Geo Doors Redirects

Google's John Mueller issued a PSA, public service announcement, the other day on Twitter saying not to redirect Googlebot when using geotargeting redirection techniques. I mean, he said if you do this, it might cause big indexing issues for Google Search.

John wrote "if you're using an app / service that does geotargeting by redirecting your URLs, make sure not to redirect to Google if you want your pages indexed." He added "and if you run such a service, check for things like this, especially if the rule is for countries where Google crawls from."

He even shared a censored screenshot to protect the identify of the site:

We've covered this topic before - but it is obviously a big enough issue that John felt the need to post this PSA.

Forum discussion at Twitter.

Note: This was pre-written and scheduled to be posted today, I am currently offline for Simchat Torah.

 

Popular Categories

The Pulse of the search community

Google Search Volatility

More Details

Search Video Recaps

 
Video Details More Videos Subscribe to Videos

Most Recent Articles

Search Forum Recap

Daily Search Forum Recap: October 2, 2026

Oct 2, 2026 - 10:00 am
Search Video Recaps

Search News Buzz Video Recap: Google Spam Update Impact, Google Not Paying Much For Your Content, Google Feels Sad & Terrible and more

Oct 2, 2026 - 8:01 am
Google Ads

Google Loyalty Customer Match Expands To AI Mode & More Regions

Oct 2, 2026 - 7:51 am
Google

Google Tests URL Tracking Parameters To AI Overviews & AI Mode

Oct 2, 2026 - 7:46 am
Google Ads

Google Local Service Ads Hiding Phone Number By Default

Oct 2, 2026 - 7:41 am
Bing Search

Bing Product Results With Recommended By Section

Oct 2, 2026 - 7:31 am
Previous Story: Google Is The Number One Search On Bing