Country and source rules: show each visitor what fits them

Not everyone who visits your page needs the same thing. Someone living in your city wants your shop's address; someone ten thousand kilometers away does not. Someone arriving from Instagram understands a friendly tone; someone arriving from a search may appreciate an explanation. Country and source rules let one page adapt to each visitor without you creating several. This guide explains when to use them, when not to and how to test them.

What a rule can do

A Zona rule combines a condition and an action.

Condition (you can write it in positive or negative, "is" or "is not"):

• Location: the visitor's country.
• Platform: the site they come from, for example Instagram or TikTok.

Action:

• Hide the link: it disappears from your page for that person.
• Change the title: the link stays, but says something else.

Visitors do not know rules exist: they see only what applies to them, with no notices. And to know the country, Zona uses the one the connection indicates; it does not ask for or store the person's exact location. You can see how it works on the country and source rules page.

Cases that make sense

1. Store with local shipping. If you only ship within one country, show the store link only to people there. Those outside are not frustrated by an impossible purchase. To sell, see the guide to shops.
2. A greeting for each network. For people arriving from Instagram, a friendlier title; for people from another network, the standard title. Get context in the guide to the link on Instagram.
3. Promotions by platform. An offer designed for people coming from TikTok, hidden from the rest. See how to frame it in the guide to the link on TikTok.
4. In-person services. A barbershop or a clinic can show "Book an appointment" only to people in its country. There are ideas in the guide for barbershops.
5. Different prices or currency. A link to the offer in one currency for one country and another link for the rest, hiding each where it does not apply.

When not to use them

Rules are powerful, but they can also complicate things. Avoid them when:

• You only have a few links. If the page is short and serves everyone, there is no need.
• You do not know where your audience comes from. Look first at your countries and your traffic source.
• You would hide important information. If you hide terms or notices, you fail to give visitors what they need to know.
• It is only to be fashionable. Every rule is something more to maintain.

How to create a rule, step by step

1. Open the link you want to apply the rule to, from your dashboard.
2. Choose the condition: a country or a platform, with "is" or "is not".
3. Choose the action: hide the link or change its title.
4. Save and check.

How to test it works

A rule you do not verify is an assumption. To check it:

• Open your page from a different network or device and see whether the link appears.
• Ask a friend in another country to open it and tell you what they see.
• Review your analytics after a few days: did behavior change in that country?

Keep one limit in mind: the country is indicated by the connection, and sometimes the connection does not match the person's real location (with a VPN, for example). Do not build anything critical on it without thinking.

Rules and scheduling are different things

If you want a link to appear only on a date, you do not need a rule: each link has its own scheduling. Rules decide to whom it is shown; scheduling decides when. Combining them gives a lot of control, for example an offer that only visitors from one country see for a week.

Think of the visitor first

Before creating a rule, ask yourself three questions:

1. What does this person need that another does not?
2. What do I lose if I hide this link from them?
3. How will I know if it worked?

If the answers are clear, the rule probably adds value. If not, it probably complicates. To start, create your zone for free and begin with a single rule; if you see no improvement, remove it.

A complete example

Imagine a yoga teacher with in-person classes in Lima and a recorded course. She creates a rule so the "Book a class" link is hidden from anyone not in Peru, and leaves the course visible to everyone. Then she adds another so people arriving from TikTok see the title "Try a short class". With just two rules, each visitor sees a page consistent with what they can do. After two weeks she reviews the clicks: if nobody taps the new title, she removes it and leaves the page as it was.

Your local audience is also served by the Mexico page.

Frequently asked questions

How does Zona know my visitor's country?

It uses the country the connection indicates. It does not ask for or store their exact location.

Do my visitors know there are rules?

No. They see only what applies to them, with no notices.

Can I schedule a link to appear on a date?

Yes. Each link has its own scheduling, separate from rules.

What do I do if a rule does not work as expected?

Check that the condition is written correctly ("is" or "is not") and test from another network. If you use a VPN, the detected country may differ from yours.