GeoIP-based language auto-detection for website

Automatic Language Detection by GeoIP for Website

Auto-detecting language and region lets you show content in user's language without explicit choice. Combines GeoIP (country detection by IP) and browser Accept-Language header for accurate preferred language detection.

Data Sources

GeoIP databases:

• MaxMind GeoLite2 — free, requires registration, updated weekly
• MaxMind GeoIP2 — paid, more accurate
• ip-api.com — API, free up to 45 req/min
• ipinfo.io — API with plans

Accept-Language header — browser itself sends preferred languages list:

Accept-Language: en-US,en;q=0.9,ru-RU;q=0.8,ru;q=0.7

MaxMind GeoLite2 Installation

# Download database
mkdir -p /usr/share/GeoIP
wget "https://download.maxmind.com/app/geoip_download?edition_id=GeoLite2-Country&license_key=YOUR_KEY&suffix=tar.gz" \
     -O GeoLite2-Country.tar.gz
tar -xzf GeoLite2-Country.tar.gz -C /usr/share/GeoIP/

// composer require maxmind-db/reader
use MaxMind\Db\Reader;

class GeoIpService
{
    private Reader $reader;

    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->reader = new Reader('/usr/share/GeoIP/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb');
    }

    public function getCountryCode(string $ip): ?string
    {
        try {
            $record = $this->reader->get($ip);
            return $record['country']['iso_code'] ?? null;
        } catch (\Exception) {
            return null;
        }
    }
}

Language Detection (Combined Logic)

class LanguageDetectionService
{
    // Country → language mapping
    private array $countryToLanguage = [
        'RU' => 'ru', 'BY' => 'ru', 'KZ' => 'ru',
        'UA' => 'uk',
        'DE' => 'de', 'AT' => 'de', 'CH' => 'de',
        'US' => 'en', 'GB' => 'en', 'AU' => 'en', 'CA' => 'en',
    ];

    private array $supportedLanguages = ['ru', 'en', 'de', 'uk'];

    public function detect(Request $request): string
    {
        // 1. Explicit user choice (highest priority)
        if ($lang = $request->cookie('locale')) {
            if (in_array($lang, $this->supportedLanguages)) {
                return $lang;
            }
        }

        // 2. Accept-Language header
        $acceptLanguage = $request->header('Accept-Language', '');
        $preferred = $this->parseAcceptLanguage($acceptLanguage);

        foreach ($preferred as $lang) {
            $short = substr($lang, 0, 2);
            if (in_array($short, $this->supportedLanguages)) {
                return $short;
            }
        }

        // 3. GeoIP
        $ip = $request->ip();
        $countryCode = app(GeoIpService::class)->getCountryCode($ip);

        if ($countryCode && isset($this->countryToLanguage[$countryCode])) {
            return $this->countryToLanguage[$countryCode];
        }

        // 4. Default
        return config('app.locale', 'en');
    }

    private function parseAcceptLanguage(string $header): array
    {
        preg_match_all('/([a-z]{1,8}(?:-[a-z]{1,8})*)(?:;q=([0-9.]+))?/i', $header, $matches);

        $langs = array_combine($matches[1], array_map(
            fn($q) => $q === '' ? 1.0 : (float) $q,
            $matches[2]
        ));

        arsort($langs);
        return array_keys($langs);
    }
}

Middleware for Language Application

class SetLocale
{
    public function handle(Request $request, Closure $next): Response
    {
        $lang = app(LanguageDetectionService::class)->detect($request);
        App::setLocale($lang);

        $response = $next($request);

        // Save to cookie (without changing Accept-Language)
        if (!$request->cookie('locale')) {
            $response->withCookie(cookie('locale', $lang, 60 * 24 * 365));
        }

        return $response;
    }
}

Redirect to Language Subdomain or Subdirectory

// Redirect on first visit
if (!$request->cookie('locale') && !$request->is('*/')) {
    $lang = $this->detect($request);
    $localizedUrl = url("/{$lang}" . $request->getPathInfo());
    return redirect($localizedUrl)->withCookie(cookie('locale', $lang, 525600));
}

GeoIP Caching

GeoIP request is fast (file read), but under high load cache in Redis:

$country = Cache::remember("geoip:{$ip}", 3600, fn() =>
    app(GeoIpService::class)->getCountryCode($ip)
);

Automatic GeoLite2 Database Update

# Cron: update database weekly
0 4 * * 2 /usr/local/bin/update-geoip.sh

# update-geoip.sh
wget -qO /tmp/GeoLite2.tar.gz "https://download.maxmind.com/..."
tar -xzf /tmp/GeoLite2.tar.gz -C /tmp/
mv /tmp/GeoLite2-Country_*/GeoLite2-Country.mmdb /usr/share/GeoIP/

Implementation Timeline

2–3 days: MaxMind setup + middleware + priority logic + testing with VPN from different countries.