Blocking Doesn’t Seem to Be Working

This is the most common concern from Kedra Shield users. In most cases, blocking is working correctly — the confusion comes from how Shopify and Google Analytics record visits.

Why Blocked Countries Still Appear in Your Analytics

Shopify Analytics and Google Analytics record a session the moment a visitor accesses your store URL. This happens before Kedra Shield’s scripts have a chance to load and evaluate the visitor.

By the time the app blocks the visitor, the session has already been counted. These are called “ghost sessions” — the visit is logged, but the visitor never actually browsed your store, viewed your products, or interacted with your content.

This means:

  • You will still see sessions from blocked countries in Shopify Analytics and Google Analytics.
  • This does not mean blocking has failed.
  • Blocked visitors could not view your products, add items to cart, or complete a checkout.

Completely preventing these sessions from being recorded would require server-level or edge-level blocking, which is outside what any Shopify storefront app can do.

How to Verify Blocking Is Actually Working

1. Check the Blocked IPs Tab

Go to Analytics > Blocked IPs in your Kedra Shield dashboard. If visitors are being blocked, they will appear here with details about why they were blocked.

2. Test with a VPN

  1. Install a VPN application on your device.
  2. Connect to a server in a country you have blocked.
  3. Open an incognito/private browser window (important — your regular browser may have cached pages).
  4. Visit your store.
  5. You should see the block page instead of your store content.

3. Check the Dashboard Status

On your Kedra Shield dashboard, look for the green “Active” badge. If it shows “Inactive” with an orange badge, the app embed is not enabled on your theme — see App Not Loading or Inactive.

4. Clear Your Browser Cache

If you recently enabled blocking, your browser may still be showing a cached version of your store. Always test in an incognito/private window to avoid cached results.

After saving settings in the Location Blocker, a notice appears:

“After saving, you may need to view the latest updates in incognito mode or clear your browser’s cache.”

Common Reasons Blocking May Not Work

Visitors Are Using VPNs

If you have blocked a country but some visitors from that country are still getting through, they may be using a VPN to appear as if they are in an allowed country.

Fix: Enable VPN & Proxy Blocking alongside country blocking. Go to VPN & Bot Blocker and enable the VPN toggle.

App Embed Not Enabled

If the theme app embed is not active, none of your blocking rules will take effect.

Fix: Go to Shopify Admin > Online Store > Themes > Customize > App Embeds, toggle Kedra Shield on, and click Save. See App Not Loading for more details.

Theme Was Changed

If you switched to a new theme, duplicated your theme, or published a different theme, the app embed does not carry over automatically.

Fix: Re-enable the app embed on your new active theme.

Whitelist/Blacklist Mode Confusion

If you are using Whitelist mode, only the countries you have selected are allowed — all others are blocked. If you are using Blacklist mode, only the countries you have selected are blocked — all others are allowed.

Double-check your mode in the Location Blocker:

  • Blacklist: “Visitors from blocked countries and cities won’t access your store.”
  • Whitelist: “Only visitors from allowed countries and cities will see your store.”

Free Plan Quota Reached

On the Free plan, VPN and bot blocking are limited to 10 blocks each. Once the limit is reached, new VPN/bot visitors will no longer be blocked. A quota warning banner appears in the app when you are near or at the limit.

Fix: Upgrade to a Pro plan for unlimited blocking.

Next Steps