Cloudflare redirect by country: a free rule step by step, and the limits of each plan

Cloudflare redirect by country: what the Free plan allows

Cloudflare redirects by country with a Single Redirects rule, its rule type for sending a matching request to another URL, that matches on the country field. It works on every plan, Free included, and Free holds 10 such rules per zone, a zone being one domain or subdomain. The rule only applies to traffic proxied through Cloudflare, so the domain's DNS records must run through Cloudflare first.

The prices are for the whole site, not a charge for redirects. Geo Targetly lists state and city targeting on every plan; the Geo Targetly button below leads to its site, where the 14-day trial starts.

Set the rule: the country field, the target and the status code

Cloudflare's documentation gives these steps. Deploy puts the rule into effect for visitors; select Save as Draft if the rule is not ready.

1. In the Cloudflare dashboard, open the Rules Overview page, then select Create rule and Redirect Rule.
2. Choose a custom filter expression and match the country field, which takes a two-letter ISO 3166-1 Alpha 2 code. Cloudflare's own example is (ip.src.country eq "GB" or ip.src.country eq "FR") and http.request.uri.path eq "/".
3. Enter the target URL, either static or built from the country code. Cloudflare's example, lower(concat("https://", ip.src.country, ".example.com")), sends each listed country to its own subdomain.
4. Pick the status code: 301 (permanent) is the default, and 302, 307 and 308 are offered. Cloudflare's own country-subdomain example sets 301.
5. Turn on Preserve query string if links carry tracking parameters; it is disabled by default. Then select Deploy.

A visitor from a country the rule does not list is not redirected; in Cloudflare's example a US visitor stays on example.com. When one country rule is not enough, the step up is a hosted tool such as Geo Targetly.

Limits: rule counts, the state field and accuracy

Regular expressions are available only on Business and Enterprise. State rules use a separate field that needs a Business or Enterprise plan and holds an empty string when the value is not available. A city field also exists.

The location is an estimate. Cloudflare calls IP geolocation an estimate, not an exact science, and says it provides no SLAs for accuracy or for the timing of updates.

SEO: one rule for crawlers and visitors

Google tells sites to treat Googlebot like any other user from the country it appears to come from. Its default crawler addresses appear to be in the USA, and it also crawls from outside the USA, so a country rule reaches Googlebot by the country its address resolves to.

Google's redirect page says a permanent redirect shows the new target in search results and a temporary one shows the source page. Cloudflare defaults to 301, so choose 302 or 307 for a rule that sends one URL's visitors to different places. Does geo redirect hurt SEO sets out Google's guidance.

When a hosted tool is the better next step

Geo Targetly targets state, city and radius on every plan, while Cloudflare's state field needs a Business or Enterprise plan. Every Geo Targetly plan also includes every tool on one script; Geo Targetly pricing lists the plans.

A small business already on Cloudflare that needs two country redirects can stop at the Free plan's rule. If one country rule is not enough, state and city rules can be tested on Geo Targetly's 14-day trial with no card; the free geo redirect tool page lists the other free routes.