Shopify Geolocation App Shutdown: What Merchants Need to Know

Shopify Discontinues Geolocation App: What’s Next?

As of 1 February 2025, Shopify has stopped new installations of its Geolocation App, and by 24 March 2025, the app will be completely removed from all stores. This change means merchants must now find alternative ways to manage international traffic and optimise their store experience for global customers.

With the removal of the Geolocation App, Shopify is steering merchants towards automatic domain and browser language redirection rather than relying on consent-based localisation tools. However, this shift raises questions about the best SEO practices for handling international visitors.

Google’s Best Practices: Say No to Automatic Redirects

When it comes to SEO, Google discourages automatic redirects based on geolocation. According to John Mueller (Google Search Advocate):

“I'd avoid redirects by IP location in most cases; it's easy to break indexing & frustrate users..”

“Googlebot crawls mostly from the US. If you redirect US-based users to a different site (US-version), we won't be able to index the rest..”

“Avoid automatically redirecting users from one language version of a site to a different language version of a site. For example, don't redirect based on what you think the user's language may be. These redirections could prevent users (and search engines) from viewing all the versions of your site.”

This means that while automatic redirects may seem like a quick fix, they could actually harm your SEO performance by preventing Google from properly crawling and indexing all versions of your site.

The Recommended Alternative: Geolocation or Country Selector Apps

To align with Google’s best practices, it would be beneficial for Shopify merchants to implement geolocation or country selector apps instead of forced redirects. Google’s official documentation supports this approach, stating that geolocation apps would offer the following:

• Allow users to select their preferred language and region without disrupting their browsing experience.
• Ensure that search engine crawlers can still access and index all pages.
• Improve user experience by giving visitors the power to choose their localised experience rather than being forced into a version of the site they may not prefer.

More details can be found in Google Search Central’s documentation on multi-regional sites 

Steps to Implement Geolocation Apps

If you’re a Shopify merchant, here’s how you can transition from the discontinued Geolocation App to a Google-approved approach:

1. Use a Third-Party Geolocation Popup App – Shopify’s App Store offers several solutions that allow merchants to implement non-intrusive popups. We recommend reviewing them carefully, as in some cases, geo apps do not allow the inclusion of a folder structure, such as /en-us/ or /en-nz/ or an integration with Shopify Markets. 
2. Avoid Forced Redirects – Let customers choose their preferred language and currency instead of automatically changing it based on their location.
3. Test for SEO Performance – Use Google’s Search Console to check how search engines are crawling your pages after the transition.

Final Thoughts

While Shopify’s removal of the Geolocation App may seem inconvenient, it’s an opportunity for merchants to align their international strategies with Google’s SEO guidelines. By implementing geolocation or country selector apps instead of forced redirects, merchants can improve user experience, SEO rankings, and site accessibility for a global audience.

At 30Acres, we have experience in Shopify international strategies and can recommend the best app for your needs while helping you grow your business internationally. Get in touch.