A site looks up the visitor's IP address in a location database and decides what to serve. It may redirect to a local version, change prices and currency, hide products that are not sold there, or refuse the visit outright.
A proxy with an address in the right country gets the local version. This is the everyday use of geo-targeting: checking adverts, prices and search results as they appear in each market. A site's own terms still apply to how you use what you see.
Blocking is not always a refusal. Many sites quietly redirect to a local version, so the first sign is a different currency or language. The address bar and the page footer usually show which country's version you were given.
Questions about geo-blocking
How does a site know my country?
It looks up your IP address in a database that maps address ranges to places. The answer is usually right at country level and less reliable for cities.
Is a proxy the only way to see another country's version of a site?
A VPN changes your address too. A proxy is the better tool when a program needs to check many countries, because the country can be chosen for each request.
Related terms
- Geo-targeting
- Geo-targeting means choosing the country, state or city your proxy request leaves from, so a website shows what local visitors see there.
- Exit IP
- The exit IP is the address your request leaves the proxy network from. It is the address the website sees and logs as its visitor.
- IP ban
- An IP ban is when a website refuses requests from a particular IP address, usually after seeing too many requests or behaviour it disliked.
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