Why are some test locations restricted when scheduling performance monitoring?

When scheduling the performance monitoring of a new page/URL in Siteimprove Performance you may find that some of the test locations are unavailable and appear as grayed out on the list. This is due to geo-restrictions stemming from the given site that prevent some locations from being able to access the page.

What is geo-blocking?

Geo-blocking ( geo-restriction) is a method used to restrict the access of specified content based on a user’s geographic location. The most common method of achieving this is by using IP addresses to determine the location and restrict access.

Siteimprove Performance emulates a range of users, speeds, devices, and locations when it accesses pages to measures their performance. If a specific test location is outside the permitted geographical area for that page, Performance won’t be able to gather any meaningful data, and therefore won’t be able to measure the pages load speed and experience from that location. This is indicated by that location(s) being greyed out in the list of available locations, devices and speeds for that particular page.

What implications does this have for my Performance measurements?

In cases where geo-blocking occurs, you won’t be able to select the test locations outside the page's permitted geographical area. However, because Siteimprove Performance uses a global network of different test locations, you should be able to select a location that is within the permitted area.

There are many reasons for geo-blocking portions of content including legal requirements, censorship, product and pricing segmentation by region. If you find this to be a recurring issue, we suggest that you investigate whether there is a geographically appropriate version of the page available, and schedule that page in Performance.