How to block geographical redirects?

DavidO · 01-31-2009, 06:31 AM

How do I stop websites such as Google, Youtube and Amazon from redirecting me to a subdomain based on geography?

I'm in Spain but I don't want to use Spanish language sites. Right now I'm trying to get into Youtube. I used to access it all the time. Now it redirects me to www.es.youtube.com. The problem is that the Spanish site is having technical problems and won't open. That means I can't get youtube at all.

This happens all the time with dozens of sites and I'm sick of it. I'm using IE7 and I can't find anything in the browser to stop this.

Thanks for any tips!

Bruce Hearder · 02-01-2009, 01:03 AM

Hi..

You should be able to go directly to www.youtube.com by simply typing it in.

I did see this Google Blog post that might be so some assistance to you

http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/...e-domains.html

Hope this helps

take care

Bruce

awesometbn · 02-01-2009, 01:09 PM

Hello DavidO,
I know you said your browser is IE7, but there are a few things that might help you by using another browser like Firefox. Even before switching browsers, you might be able to avoid the redirect by starting with a proxy that is in the location you want.

For Firefox (and there might be a similar setting in IE, I don't know) take a look at this blog post,

[How-To] Stop Automatic Redirects To Other Websites with Firefox 3 | Technofriends

There is a check box under General Settings that says "Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page." That should help a lot.

Another idea for Firefox is to use the browser plugin called Noscript. That will give you a lot more control over what websites are trying to do to you, and you can allow or deny those actions.

For IE7, and again I'm not 100% sure this will work, you might try going to Tools --> Internet options --> Security tab --> Custom Level button --> Miscellaneous category --> set "Allow META REFRESH" to Disable. Your automatic redirect might not be using the meta refresh method, and in some cases this trick will only give you a blank page.

I hope that helps. Please let us know what works for you. Interested minds want to know! Thanks.

n7 Studios · 02-01-2009, 02:25 PM

You'll find a lot of major sites look at your IP address to determine roughly which country you're in. Then, their servers (or web page) will set a 301 header redirect to a page that they feel is more localised and relevent for you. Others will use cookies to then save the "default" localised page you're on. Few use Javascript or a META refresh, which means you'll have less control over what happens.

So, you've got three options:
1. Use a proxy server in the UK - this will then look like you're browsing as if you're in the UK, and the web sites should serve up relevent content. It depends on the proxy and the web site, but this can be useful.
2. Clear your cookies - certainly with YouTube, it'll ask you whether the page it's sent you to is the one you want to set. By clearing your cookies, it should reprompt this question to you, at which point you can say no, and I believe even then specify the location you want i.e. YouTube UK.
3. Visit the web site directly. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. or Google should do the trick, but you might need to do this with the above points too.

Tim.

Sonam22 · 07-24-2009, 11:53 AM

With Firefox 3 you can prevent such behaviour by following the steps mentioned below.
1.) Open your Firefox 3 instance.
2.) Click on Tools. Next Click on Options.
3.) Click on Advanced tab. Click on sub tab called General.
4.) Select the checkbox which says ” Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page”.
5.) Click on Ok.
Once you have setup the feature after following the steps as mentioned above, Firefox will report redirects to other websites with an information bar, the bar will have an option for you to either approve or disapprove the behaviour.

01-31-2009, 06:31 AM	#1
DavidO Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: United Kingdom, Spain Posts: 2,031 Thanks: 10 Thanked 101 Times in 58 Posts	How to block geographical redirects? How do I stop websites such as Google, Youtube and Amazon from redirecting me to a subdomain based on geography? I'm in Spain but I don't want to use Spanish language sites. Right now I'm trying to get into Youtube. I used to access it all the time. Now it redirects me to www.es.youtube.com. The problem is that the Spanish site is having technical problems and won't open. That means I can't get youtube at all. This happens all the time with dozens of sites and I'm sick of it. I'm using IE7 and I can't find anything in the browser to stop this. Thanks for any tips!

02-01-2009, 01:03 AM	#2
Bruce Hearder Advanced Warrior War Room Member Join Date: May 2004 Location: Perth, Australia. Posts: 717 Thanks: 4 Thanked 181 Times in 137 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: How to block geographical redirects? Hi.. You should be able to go directly to www.youtube.com by simply typing it in. I did see this Google Blog post that might be so some assistance to you http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2007/...e-domains.html Hope this helps take care Bruce
	----------------- Get Your Backlinks indexed quicker at BackLinks2RSS Create Full Text Feeds from Partial RSS Feeds at FeedExpander.com. See the WarriorForum post about it here

02-01-2009, 01:09 PM	#3
awesometbn HyperActive Warrior Join Date: May 2008 Location: USA Posts: 249 Blog Entries: 22 Thanks: 9 Thanked 29 Times in 27 Posts	Re: How to block geographical redirects? Hello DavidO, I know you said your browser is IE7, but there are a few things that might help you by using another browser like Firefox. Even before switching browsers, you might be able to avoid the redirect by starting with a proxy that is in the location you want. For Firefox (and there might be a similar setting in IE, I don't know) take a look at this blog post, [How-To] Stop Automatic Redirects To Other Websites with Firefox 3 \| Technofriends There is a check box under General Settings that says "Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page." That should help a lot. Another idea for Firefox is to use the browser plugin called Noscript. That will give you a lot more control over what websites are trying to do to you, and you can allow or deny those actions. For IE7, and again I'm not 100% sure this will work, you might try going to Tools --> Internet options --> Security tab --> Custom Level button --> Miscellaneous category --> set "Allow META REFRESH" to Disable. Your automatic redirect might not be using the meta refresh method, and in some cases this trick will only give you a blank page. I hope that helps. Please let us know what works for you. Interested minds want to know! Thanks.
	Exciting comment opportunities on my WF blog: (1) Better money with better marketing (2) Forming strong customer bonds (3) Earn more money with DB marketing (4) Building a revenue and profit model

02-01-2009, 02:25 PM	#4
n7 Studios Web Developer, IT Support War Room Member Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: Birmingham, UK Posts: 512 Thanks: 10 Thanked 77 Times in 65 Posts Social Networking	Re: How to block geographical redirects? You'll find a lot of major sites look at your IP address to determine roughly which country you're in. Then, their servers (or web page) will set a 301 header redirect to a page that they feel is more localised and relevent for you. Others will use cookies to then save the "default" localised page you're on. Few use Javascript or a META refresh, which means you'll have less control over what happens. So, you've got three options: 1. Use a proxy server in the UK - this will then look like you're browsing as if you're in the UK, and the web sites should serve up relevent content. It depends on the proxy and the web site, but this can be useful. 2. Clear your cookies - certainly with YouTube, it'll ask you whether the page it's sent you to is the one you want to set. By clearing your cookies, it should reprompt this question to you, at which point you can say no, and I believe even then specify the location you want i.e. YouTube UK. 3. Visit the web site directly. YouTube - Broadcast Yourself. or Google should do the trick, but you might need to do this with the above points too. Tim.
	THE Web Development Guru - Wordpress / Magento / iOS Bespoke Dev. HTML5, CSS3, PHP, MySQL. -- UK Internet Marketing Community.

07-24-2009, 11:53 AM	#5
Sonam22 Active Warrior Join Date: Jul 2009 Posts: 73 Thanks: 0 Thanked 2 Times in 2 Posts	Re: How to block geographical redirects? With Firefox 3 you can prevent such behaviour by following the steps mentioned below. 1.) Open your Firefox 3 instance. 2.) Click on Tools. Next Click on Options. 3.) Click on Advanced tab. Click on sub tab called General. 4.) Select the checkbox which says ” Warn me when websites try to redirect or reload the page”. 5.) Click on Ok. Once you have setup the feature after following the steps as mentioned above, Firefox will report redirects to other websites with an information bar, the bar will have an option for you to either approve or disapprove the behaviour.