Google prioritizes local relevance in its search results to provide users with the most helpful information based on their location.
The search engine uses various factors to determine a user’s location, including:
- Device location (via Wi-Fi, cell phone triangulation, or GPS).
- Labeled places on Google Maps.
- Home address linked to the user’s Google account.
- Previous activity across Google products.
- IP address.
Google uses these factors to determine your location and provide search results that are relevant to your area. This means you and your neighbor might see different search results even if you search for the same thing.
Since most people only look at the first page of search results, ranking well in local searches is essential, especially if your business relies on customers visiting your physical location.
Optimizing your website is essential to ensuring your business appears in local searches.
Add A Local Parameter To Your Search
Google has a useful search parameter feature that allows you to search for local businesses in a specific area, even if you’re not physically there. To do this, add “&near=cityname” to the end of the search URL.
For instance, let’s say you’re in Ayia Napa and want to see how a Fish Restaurant called “Oceanbasket” compares to its competitors in Ayia Napa. You can start by searching for “fish restaurants near me” on Google.
When the search results appear, look at the URL in your browser’s address bar. It will be pretty long, but don’t worry about that. Just scroll to the very end of the URL and add “&near=Ayia Napa” (without the quotes).
Hit enter, and Google will show you the search results as if you were in Ayia Napa. This way, you can quickly check out the local competition for Oceanbasket in Ayia Napa without traveling there yourself.
Change Your Regional Settings
You can manually change regional settings on Google to view search results at a country level.
This gives you search results on a country level rather than providing results from your IP address or other sources.
To do this, click Settings on the bottom right corner of Google.com and select Search Settings. This will send you to the Search Settings page (obviously).
Continuing fish restaurant example, let’s say Oceanbasket just opened a location in Cape Town. You’ll select South Africa as your region, allowing you to check the rankings of the new Oceanbasket Fish Restaurant.
Note: If you don’t add the local parameter discussed earlier to the search URL, you’ll continue to see results based on your current location.
Scroll to the bottom, and you’ll see a list of Region Settings.
Choose the region you want to use for search and save the settings. You’ll now see search results from the country you chose.
