Google Location Services

[paymatters]

Don't know if one of the kids has been messing with my computer but noticed in google searches the results I was getting were very geared to where I lived. I then went to settings and said I was in London and then Manchester etc and the results for what I searched for were dramatically different depending where I was. (They were logged into their google account so could have been dictated by their setting there!)

Just thinking that it would make SEO on a national basis extremely difficult if google based its results on what city your business is based and where the person searching is.

When you submit your business to google there doesn't seem to be an option to say you cover nationally either so you only ever appear on google maps in your own city/county.

Just an observation really.

 

[spiderspider]

I use chrome, logged into a google account.

Unless I tell google to, it never uses my 'real' location, just the ISP one. So that means I jump around the country from Cambridge to Guildford, Bristol to Birmingham, when I'm really based in South Warwickshire.

Bit of a nightmare when searching for local services, as in the first instance it returns results form where it thinks I am.

However, if I search 'Service nearest big town' (I live in middle of nowhere) I get different results than if I tell Google to use my real location and the just search 'Service'.

Its a clever thing, but I think Google have alot more work to go into it, to get it perfect.

 

[Aegean]

Unless I tell google to, it never uses my 'real' location, just the ISP one.

Thats correct. Unless you tell it otherwise, it only has your IP to go on, unless you are on a mobile where it may determine a more accurate location.

Bit of a nightmare when searching for local services, as in the first instance it returns results form where it thinks I am.

Again, that is the best result it offers, from where it thinks you are unless told otherwise.

However, if I search 'Service nearest big town' (I live in middle of nowhere) I get different results than if I tell Google to use my real location and the just search 'Service'

This is also correct. If you are in Oxford and search for "used cars", it should deliver results from the Oxford area. If you search for "used cars in Manchester", those are the results you should see.

Going by what you've written, it seems the search results are as accurate as Google can make them unless you give it more information, either by naming a place or enabling sat sync or another type of geolocation.

 

[paymatters]

It's accurate if you're say searching for a plumber but not if the industry you are in covers the whole of the UK and you only then appear where your Head Office is based?

 

[websaway]

It's accurate if you're say searching for a plumber but not if the industry you are in covers the whole of the UK and you only then appear where your Head Office is based?

Yes I queried this last year, it's no longer the world wide web through a search engine, even if you go g**gle .hk you get your own area returns.

I think this had more of an adverse effect than penquin, depending of course on ones objective.