Set Up MaxMind Geolocation

Why MaxMind

To use country-based Dynamic Redirects in LinkCentral, you need to set up a geolocation service. LinkCentral has two possible integrations: you can choose between Cloudflare and MaxMind. The former is great when your website is already using Cloudflare. If not, MaxMind is a great free alternative.

MaxMind offers a free database called “GeoLite2” that LinkCentral can use on the background to get IP geolocation data. With this, we find out from which country your users are visiting. Here’s how to enable MaxMind Geolocation.

1. Sign Up for MaxMind GeoLite2 (Free)

1. Sign up for a free GeoLite2 account on the MaxMind website.
2. Fill out the registration form with your details
3. If you’re not sure what to choose for “Intended use”, you can select “Internet traffic routing”
4. Click “Continue”.
5. Check your email for a confirmation. This email email will have a link to set your password. Click on that link and choose your password.

2. Create a MaxMind License Key

Now you have created your MaxMind website, it is time to create a license key. This key is needed by LinkCentral.

1. Sign in to your account: https://www.maxmind.com/en/account/sign-in
2. Go to the “Manage License Keys” tab in your account dashboard.
3. Select “Generate new license key”
4. Write a short description (eg: “Website Geolocation”) and click “Confirm”.
5. Your License Key is generated. Copy this key to your clipboard because once you leave the page it will disappear.

3. Enable MaxMind Geolocation service

1. In your WordPress Admin, go to the LinkCentral Settings page.
2. On the Tracking tab, under “Country Tracking Service”, select “MaxMind”.
3. A “Configure” link appears. Click on it, and a new field appears.
4. Paste the license key into the MaxMind License Key field and click “Verify”.
   Note: if activation fails, please wait a minute; MaxMind needs about 2 minutes to activate a newly generated license.
5. After successful verification, click “Save changes”. The page reloads. This might take a few moments because we are downloading the MaxMind database on the background.

Geolocation is now successfully enabled!

4. MaxMind database updates

After saving your settings with a valid MaxMind license key, LinkCentral will automatically attempt to download the GeoIP database. This process may take a few moments.

This GeoLite2 database is automatically updated every 14 days. LinkCentral will do this automatically on the background.

Troubleshooting

Why Are My Geolocation Redirects Not Working?

1. Ensure Your Website is Not Running Locally

One of the primary reasons geolocation redirects may not work correctly is if your website is running in a local environment, such as on localhost. When running locally, your site is not accessible on the internet, making it difficult for geolocation services to detect the correct IP address for redirect purposes.

Geolocation tools rely on external data sources to determine a visitor’s location based on their IP address. When on localhost, the IP information necessary for accurate geolocation may not be available or is likely to be inaccurate. Once your website is live and accessible on the internet, this issue should resolve automatically.

2. Verify the MaxMind Database is Loaded Correctly

Ensure that the required database file is in the correct location. LinkCentral should download the database automatically, but please verify this is indeed the case. There should be a file called GeoLite2-Country.mmdb inside the uploads/linkcentral/GeoLite2-Country directory of your WordPress installation.

Other questions