International Notes

This article contains helpful information for building a store locator outside the United States.

Bryan Nye avatar
Written by Bryan Nye
Updated over a week ago

  • Data TLD:  The TLD, or Top Level Domain of your locations should be set according to the country the locations are in.  The TLD adds a bias to our search and geocoding service for the most accurate geocoding possible.  For a complete list of TLDs available, click here.  When importing your locations, ensure the TLD column has the appropriate two-letter value obtained from the spreadsheet. For example importing a location in the United States with a TLD of US will display United States as the correct TLD as shown in this screenshot: 

  • Base TLD: In addition to the TLD for each location, your Interface settings must also indicate a TLD. This setting gives the geocoder a hint when the user searches for a location and allows for the configuration of different Interfaces for different countries. For multi-country searches, set this to Please Select and add a Country drop down in the search form.  The Base TLD is found under Filter & Sort in your Interface options, as shown in this screenshot: 

  • Search Distance Type:  Many countries outside the US use Kilometers instead of Miles as a common measure of distance.  Change this in your Interface settings under Form Settings as found under Form Settings "Measure in KM or Miles":

  • Default Map Location:  When the map is optionally displayed when there are no results, it uses the Default Map Center Latitude and Longitude.  Set these to the center of the country in question.  You can obtain these coordinates by Googling them or using the Map Explorer Tool under Tools > Map Explorer.

  • Language File Changes: MetaLocator can provide custom language for your search interface.  Text embedded in the search form such as "Please select..." or "Category" or "Keyword" can all be customized.  You can edit these options under Language.

  • Country Selection: If you have multiple countries in the same Interface directory on your site, we highly recommend you display the "Country" drop-down list.  This ensures the system will correctly interpret the user's search request.  Since many countries share the same postal codes, and postal code formats, it can be important to give the search system a country to improve it's accuracy.

These and other settings allow MetaLocator to present the most accurate and familiar search and results to users globally.  For more tweaks, settings and hints refer to our documentation library or simply contact us!

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