SEO Location Question

Started by gmlacruz, 10-26-2011, 11:01:54

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gmlacruzTopic starter

Hi, I'm running into a location issue that I don't understand.   I have sites hosted in Canada and targeting a small niche in Canada, US and Mexico.

When I search for my keywords I'm showing excellent ranking in google.ca, google.com, .com.mx, .com.br, etc.   But when I use a proxy server to check my positioning is the same for google.ca, google.com.mx, com.uk, .com.br but drop out of the picture in Google.com.

any ideas why I drop out in google.com when using a proxy server? 

thanks
gmlacruz
  •  


alexfernandes

Quote from: gmlacruz on 10-26-2011, 11:01:54
Hi, I'm running into a location issue that I don't understand.   I have sites hosted in Canada and targeting a small niche in Canada, US and Mexico.

When I search for my keywords I'm showing excellent ranking in google.ca, google.com, .com.mx, .com.br, etc.   But when I use a proxy server to check my positioning is the same for google.ca, google.com.mx, com.uk, .com.br but drop out of the picture in Google.com.

any ideas why I drop out in google.com when using a proxy server? 

thanks
gmlacruz

For checking keywords in UK, you need to visit [.co.uk] not [.com.uk]

Coming to your question, suppose you handle SEO for a US website from UK, then the results which you get from google.co.uk may differ from your client results. This is because Google personalises the SERPs by considering your IP address. In order to avoid this problem, we use proxy servers.

But you case is quite rare because according to me if you use a US proxy server, then your keyword rankings should not differ. I guess you need to switch to a different US proxy to solve this problem.
  •  


tailoredsolutions

#2
It's possible that when you use a proxy server, Google's algorithms detect the change in location and adjust the search results accordingly. This could cause your site to drop out of the search results in Google.com.

Another factor could be that Google uses various signals to determine the relevance of a website to a particular location. These signals include country-specific domain extensions (e.g., .ca for Canada), IP address geolocation, and content targeting. If your site is primarily targeting a Canadian audience, it may have higher relevance in Google.ca compared to Google.com.

To improve your visibility in Google.com, you can try the following:

1. Ensure that your website has relevant and high-quality content that appeals to a broader, international audience.

2. Consider implementing hreflang tags to indicate language and regional targeting on your website.

3. Build backlinks and improve your overall website authority to increase your visibility in global search results.

4. Modify your SEO strategy to specifically target and optimize for the US and Mexican markets.

It's also worth noting that search rankings can fluctuate due to various factors, including competition, algorithm updates, and user behavior patterns. So, monitoring your website's performance over time is crucial to understanding any changes in rankings.

davidhan

hello!
To achieve its purpose in my opinion you should drive traffic from countries your client .
You can develop traffic from social networking sites, backlinks from sites that country and adjust target users in webmaster tool.

Siservices

This certainly happens many times and there is nothing to worry. As you are using proxy so you cannot rely on software thing. If possible use some different proxy location or system. And searching many things from a proxy sometimes give fluctuating results.


kradha707

#5
Google search results can differ greatly based on several factors. Here are some possible reasons why you're witnessing a difference in your website's ranking on Google.com when using a proxy server:

Location: Google personalizes search results based on the user's location. Even if your website is targeting multiple locations, where the search request originates from can have a significant impact on what results Google shows. Even using a proxy might not fully emulate the search experience of a local user if Google identifies the traffic as coming from a proxy.

Proxy Server Location: If the proxy server you are using is in a location you are not targeting with your content (for instance, if it's based in Asia or Europe), this could be causing your website to show lower rankings or to not appear at all on the results page on Google.com.

Data Center Variations: Google has multiple data centers around the world, and not all data centers have exactly the same information at the same time. It takes time for new content and other data to be propagated to all data centers. So, you might be seeing results from different data centers depending on whether you access Google directly or via a proxy.

Personalization and Cookies: Google personalizes search results based on past search history and browsing history if you're signed into a Google account. If you're using a fresh browser or a browser in incognito mode through your proxy, the personalization factor will be less, which might affect the search results.

Search Engine Optimization (SEO): Google uses over 200 factors to rank websites, including domain authority, backlinks, relevance, etc. If your SEO efforts are more aligned with one region than another, it's possible that your ranking could be significantly different across regions.

Without knowing the specifics of your website, your SEO strategy, and your configurations, it's hard to provide an exact answer but these are the most common potential causes. To get a more accurate understanding of your rankings across different geographical locations, instead of using a proxy server, consider using tools designed for this purpose, like a VPN with server locations in the countries you're targeting, or a local search ranking tool. These solutions can provide more accurate results.

Sure, let's delve a little deeper.

1. **User behavior**: Google evaluates how users interact with search results. If your website is not getting enough clicks or if users are quickly returning to the results after visiting your site (known as pogo-sticking), Google might assume your website isn't a good fit for that query or location and downrank it.

2. **Mobile compatibility**: Google has adopted mobile-first indexing, meaning it predominantly uses the mobile version of your content for indexing and ranking. If your website is not well optimized for mobile, it can see rankings drop, especially on Google.com where mobile search volume is higher.

3. **Google's testing**: Google constantly tests and tunes its algorithms, and this might cause some websites' rankings to fluctuate. It's possible that when you're checking from a different location, you're encountering a test.

4. **Proxy Type and Quality**: Some proxy servers don't work well and might not show results as expected. The reliability of the proxy server could significantly affect the search results you're seeing. Furthermore, Google might flag activities from some proxy servers as suspicious and modify the search results accordingly.

5. **Online Reputation Monitoring (ORM)**: Negative reviews or content associated with your brand in a particular location could impact search rankings. Google tries to display results relevant to a user's reputation, credibility and authenticity.

6. **Check Indexing**: It's possible that some of your content is not getting indexed properly on Google.com. Use Google's Search Console to obtain indexing reports.

The best course of action to fix this issue would be identifying the core reason for why you're falling out on Google.com rankings while using a proxy. Once you have a hypothesis, use A/B testing and analytics to track improvements.

Also, ensure that you have your International targeting properly set in Google Search Console. This tells Google which geographic regions you are targeting.


CDN and IP Address: If you're using a CDN (Content Delivery Network) to serve your site, the IP address Google sees could be different and potentially foreign. If the CDN doesn't handle the X-Forwarded-For header correctly, then Google could misunderstand the location of your server.

Language and Content: Ensure the content you're providing aligns with the language and cultural nuances of the region you're targeting. Language plays a crucial role in SEO. Even minor details, like colour/color discrepancies in spellings between U.S English and U.K English, matter. Google tends to show content that aligns with the user's language, lexicon, and cultural usability.

Structured Data: Structured data is a way of formatting HTML that uses a specific vocabulary, telling search engines exactly what each part of the site is, such as articles, navigation, or headers. Making your site easily readable by Google bots using schema markups can significantly improve search results.

Link Building: Links from websites located in the area you're targeting can significantly improve your website's local ranking. This includes both backlinks from other sites and listings in local directories.

Google Search Console: Use Google Search Console (GSC) effectively. Verify your website on GSC and set your preferred country in the International Targeting section. Regularly check for any crawl errors, manual actions, security issues or indexation problems.

Set Up a Google My Business Page: If you haven't done so already, setting up a Google My Business page for your company can also help improve your visibility in local search results.

Of course, let's go into even more depth:

1. **Google Updates**: Google periodically rolls out significant algorithm updates, which can lead to changes in ranking among SERPs globally. Differences in locations could simply be due to these updates taking effect at different times or impacting ranking factors differently across regions. Keeping track of when these updates are taking place and adjusting your SEO strategy to respond to these updates can be crucial.

2. **Social signals**: Social signals such as likes, shares, tweets, etc., help with improving your website's search engine ranking. If the social engagement on your site is higher in a specific location, it can potentially influence your site's ranking in that location. So, make sure your content is engaging and shareable.

3. **HTTPS**: Transitioning from HTTP to HTTPS can also impact Google rankings. If your website is not secure, that could be a possible reason why you are seeing changes in pages' rankings. Google has confirmed HTTPS as a ranking signal, so it would be beneficial to transition to secure HTTPS if you haven't already.

4. **User Experience (UX)**: The user experience of your website plays a major role in the ranking of the site. If your site loads slowly, has broken links, or provides a poor user experience, it could be ranked lower. Google's Core Web Vitals can be a useful tool for detecting and improving user experience obstacles.

5. **Local Citations and Reviews**: The number and consistency of 'citations' (online mentions of your business name, address & phone number) can play a significant role local SEO rankings. Also, Google takes into account the number and sentiment of reviews on your Google My Business page. Encouraging happy customers to leave positive reviews can help boost your rankings.

6. **Quality of Content**: Google considers the quality of the content to be an essential factor for ranking. If the content on your website is not informative, is copied from elsewhere, or is stuffed with keywords, your site will not rank well. Make sure that your content is original, valuable, and keyword-optimized.

Those are some of the deeper factors I can suggest. Without a specific website or case to look at, these are all the general things that could cause differences in ranking across geographies. Make sure to continually use Google Analytics and Search Console information to further understand and improve your website's performance.

zanuda

Quote from: gmlacruz on 10-26-2011, 11:01:54
When I search for my keywords I'm showing excellent ranking in google.ca, google.com, .com.mx, .com.br, etc.   But when I use a proxy server to check my positioning is the same for google.ca, google.com.mx, com.uk, .com.br but drop out of the picture in Google.com.

any ideas why I drop out in google.com when using a proxy server? 

Google is "smart" these days. It remembers sites you frequently visit and searches you usually do. Especially if you're logged into your googe account. Then it shows those sites higher then if you go anonymous (and with clear cache). And shows corresponding paid adds :) s well.