Google Will Now Focus On Making Search Results More Local

If you’ve tried to search on Google before, usually what the search engine does is it attempts to search for results that are local and relevant to the user. However previously users were able to circumvent this by going to a different Google top level domain, like Google.br, Google.com.sg, Google.com.my, to try and get search results in that particular country.

However it seems that Google will no longer be allowing users to do that anymore. According to Google, “Today, we’ve updated the way we label country services on the mobile web, the Google app for iOS, and desktop Search and Maps. Now the choice of country service will no longer be indicated by domain. Instead, by default, you’ll be served the country service that corresponds to your location.”

This will switch automatically depending on the country you are in, and will switch back once you go home. However if you absolutely have to search in a different country, that will still be possible as you can change that via your settings, which is a slightly longer process than changing the top level domain.

“If for some reason you don’t see the right country when you’re browsing, you can still go into settings and select the correct country service you want to receive. Typing the relevant ccTLD in your browser will no longer bring you to the various country services—this preference should be managed directly in settings. In addition, at the bottom of the search results page, you can clearly see which country service you are currently using.”

Tyler Lee
Categories: General
Tags: Google