What are you using to see SERPs in cities you are not in?

[RobertFisher]

I am curious as to what those of you who are agencies and are checking specific cities for SERPs are using to geo locate a SERP in a city you are not in. PLEASE I am not looking for great Rank tracking software, etc. I want to see specific searches; I am not trying to check rankings of a specific keyword per se.

After Google changed the ability to use location settings I found that using a query string like: https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=purple+fuzzy+jellybeans&near=**city I want**

I noticed in the last few weeks that type of query is returning more and more results that are geo diffuse: a search with &near=denver returns some denver but also raleigh NC, Houston, etc. I realize there are other work arounds, but it would seem reasonable to want to know what is actually happening in a given city for a given search if you have multiple locations, just took on a client in DC, etc.

Love to hear what you are using.

[LoganRay]

Hi Robert,

If you've got Mozbar installed, you can create different search profiles for different locations. When you go to Google with Mozbar turned on, you'll noticed a 'Search Profiles' menu in the upper left. Click the drop-down, set your location settings, and save the profile. From there, run your search, then change the drop-down to the desired location.

[RobertFisher]

OK, now I am feeling a bit cheated and hurt...

My Mozbar has Moz, Page Analysis, Links Pencil, Page optimization, then Link info, social info, ?, Cog, dock placement, turn off.

Are you paying them on the side?

Do I need to reinstall???

[RobertFisher]

I checked my version and it was 3.1.128 which is current mozbar. I then trashed and reinstalled and I am now convinced you have a more special relationship with Moz than I have. I will speak with my therapist though.

[LoganRay]

HA! No side payments happening here!

Here's what mine looks like: http://imgur.com/a/8oidh

They recently made a bunch of changes to Mozbar, so a reinstall might be necessary.

[LoganRay]

Are you using Chrome? I think the versions for Chrome and Firefox differ slightly...with search profiles being a possible point of differentiation.

[MikeRoberts]

If I'm doing a quick search just to see some top ranking pages for a query in another city, I normally use https://serps.com/tools/google-search-location/

[RobertFisher]

Actually, I was using Chrome. Interestingly I got the download through the extensions tab in Google and nothing.

Then I took it completely off again and instead did a search for Moz bar and used the download now feature from Chrome. All of a sudden there it was where I could create my own search profile with city, etc.

So if it was downloaded straight out of Extensions it did not have it. If it was downloaded without going through extensions it did. One other note is that you have to put something in the search bar to get it to show. If you just have Mozbar on and then open a new page to a google search it won't show until you search on something. 
Thanks for the big assist.

[LoganRay]

Awesome, glad you got it working! Always happy to help a fellow Mozzer!

[RobertFisher]

Thanks Mike, 
I had never tried it and it works fairly well. I do notice the occasional random city but a lot less than what I was getting. 
Big help.

[MikeRoberts]

Its not the most perfect tool. Sometimes if you move to a second or third page in the SERPs it will reset your location to your actual location. It doesn't do it all the time but when it does its not always noticeable. If I need to see more than page one while using it, I tend to just set google to show 100 results per page instead of the default. It also doesn't list every town in the world. So sometimes you just need to go with whatever is close to what you needed.

[RobertFisher]

I don't think there is a perfect any longer for this. I do think it is a good tool though. Certainly better than most. 
I did the same searches in same cities using this tool and the Moz tool that Logan pointed out. I got the same results for several searches so it gives me some comfort on both. 
I actually think this one is easier than the Moz tool, but with the Moz tool you can set up multiple profiles that are retained for future searches which is a huge plus.

Thanks again