Local Google vs. default Google search

[EduardoRuiz]

Hello Moz community,

I have a question: what is the difference between a local version of Google vs. the default Google in regards to search results?

I have a Mexican site that I'm trying to rank in www.google.com.mx, but my rankings are actually better if I check my keywords on www.google.com

The domain is a .mx site, so wouldn't it make more sense that this page would rank higher on google.com.mx instead of the default Google site, which in theory would mean a "broader" scope? Also, what determines whether a user gets automatically directed to a local Google version vs. staying on the default one?

Thanks for your valuable input!

[gazzerman1]

I have a question: what is the difference between a local version of Google vs. the default Google in regards to search results?

Many factors, the results in google.com can be a real mix of international listings as well as local. The location of backlinks to a website can force Google to rank a site in that region.

Lets say you have a .mx site but have lots of links from UK websites because it is about holidays in mexico then you could rank well in the google.co.uk it would be more likely however if the domain was a .com as Google gives more universal power to those types of TLD's

The domain is a .mx site, so wouldn't it make more sense that this page would rank higher on google.com.mx instead of the default Google site

Not if the above is true, also if you have a less of a local feel to your content you might rank better among a group of similar sites that are more broad in nature.

Also, what determines whether a user gets automatically directed to a local Google version vs. staying on the default one?

There are a lot of factors involved, IP address and Google's ability to determine where you are.

The language you use and even the spelling of words, for instance in the UK vs US it could be color vs colour

There are lots of answers to your questions but those are just a few to give you an idea of the 200+ algorithm factors for ranking in such circumstances.

[EduardoRuiz]

Thank you Gary. What you've mentioned makes sense to me.

So, pretty much getting to google.com is almost impossible now, as Google will redirect users to their local Google sites based on their IP addresses. Therefore, it makes more sense to rank in local versions of Google, at least for this site, which is not intended to be global.

I'm thinking more links from .mx sites could be a possible solution.

Thanks a lot!

[gazzerman1]

its not that it is impossible but the results you see may not reflect what others see.

With cookies set on your computer and with IP and language playing such a strong role it will difficult to see accurate results without forcing it with things like gl=US or something like that.

Do you have a local listing for your address? That will help a lot as well as marking your site up with rich snippets like schema.org

[MiriamEllis]

Hi Eduardo,

I just wanted to add a note to this good conversation. For local businesses, Google will show IP-based results if they believe the search query has a local intent. So, the factors governing actual local results (for things like restaurants, plumbers, hotels, etc.) are highly influenced by the searcher's location, or by him adding a geographic keyword to his query.

For example, searching from my location in the US, if I search for 'hotels alcapulco' Google is showing me their local carousel of hotel results for this city in Mexico, regardless of the fact that I'm not located in Mexico. Google 'gets' that I want to see hotels in Mexico. But, if I search for 'history of the Mexican flag', Google is showing me general, organic results including things like Wikipedia. So, whether one gets local results or organic ones appears to be based on the language of the searcher's query + Google's concept of the user's intent. Usually, they get this right, but there are some instances in which you may get local results when you didn't really want them. For example, I might search for something really generic like 'shoes', and then Google isn't totally secure about my intent, so they are showing me both local and national results.

[EduardoRuiz]

Wow thanks for this answer Miriam. This definitely helps me understand much better how this works as I was getting very confused why I was ranking better in "global" searches, now this makes more sense.

[MiriamEllis]

So glad to be of help, Eduardo.