Have you ever wondered how to trick Google into thinking that you’re somewhere else? 🌎
Changing your location in Google Search can be incredibly useful, especially for performing SEO tasks like SERP analysis.
If you’re looking for some instant digital teleportation tips, read on to discover:
Why would you change your location?
People sometimes prefer to use different locations on the Internet rather than their real ones – there can be various reasons why you might consider changing yours as well:
- Increased privacy – Let’s be honest, nothing is safe on the Internet, not even information about your location. If you want to prevent websites from knowing where you are, changing your location is a big step in keeping nosy websites out of your business.
- Location-restricted content – Many streaming services or websites (like YouTube or Netflix) prevent displaying their content in particular regions. Therefore, it might not be available to you with your real location setup.
- Location-sensitive searches – For certain search queries, it is important to know how their SERPs look in a particular region (especially when it comes to local keywords). So, you might consider switching to a different location on Google in order to obtain more accurate data about your important keywords and their SERPs.
- Testing and troubleshooting – Web developers, digital marketers, or SEO professionals who need to test how their websites, ads, or other online content perform in different geographic regions also get advantages from changing locations. Switching locations lets you see that your content is displayed correctly to users in specific areas, helping you troubleshoot any issues that might come up due to regional differences.
How to change location on Google
There are multiple ways on how you can change your location within the Google Search:
- Block your location in the web browser
- Change your Google location manually
- Try a VPN service
- Use Mangools SERPChecker tool
- Utilize Google Location Changer
1. Block your location in the web browser
One of the easiest ways to prevent Google from knowing your location is to block it on your browser.
Generally speaking, all major web browsers (e.g. Google Chrome, Firefox, Microsoft Edge, etc.) provide an option to block your location for privacy reasons.
If you are using a web browser like Google Chrome, the process is pretty straightforward:
1. Hit the 3 dots in the top-right corner of your screen and select “Settings” from the menu.
2. Click on the “Privacy and security” tab from the settings on the left and select “Site Settings” from the menu.
3. Click on the “Location” tab under the “Permissions” section.
4. In the “Default behavior” section, select the option “Don’t allow sites to see your location”. This will block all websites from accessing your location.
A similar process can be done on other browsers (or devices) as well though the way how to get to the location settings may slightly differ.
Note: On a smartphone, you’ll be able to toggle location services off or on directly within its settings.
Android:
- Go to your device’s Settings app.
- Scroll down and tap on Location.
- You can toggle the switch to turn off location services completely.
iOS:
- Go to “Settings” > “Privacy” > “Location Services“.
- Make sure Location Services is turned on.
Although changing your Google location this way is pretty straightforward, it does not give you much SEO value (since you cannot really see the search results that are displayed in Google Search in a different region).
Besides, Google is capable of using other sources than your browser when determining your location.
2. Change your Google location manually
If you would like to get more granular search results in SERPs with a specific location in mind, you can manually change the location in your browser settings:
1. Head over to Google Maps, choose the country, city, or even an exact address that you would like to use as your location in Google Search, and right-click on that particular spot.
2. Google Maps will show you the exact coordinates of the location – write them down or simply copy them to your clipboard.
3. Go to Google Search and type the search query for which you would like to see the result pages for your chosen region.
4. Open your developer settings – you can either right-click on the screen and select the “Inspect” option or simply press Ctrl + Shift + I.
5. Click on the 3 dots next to the “Console” tab at the bottom of the panel and select the “Sensors” option.
6. In the “Location” tab, select the “Other…” option and type your saved coordinates (latitude and longitude) from Google Maps into their bars.
7. Go back to the Google SERP that you want to check from your chosen location, scroll down at the bottom of the page, and click on the “Update location” link.
You can play with the settings in your browser and try out different locations and coordinates to see how SERPs may differ from various regions.
Tip: Make sure that you allow Google Search to have access to your location before switching to a new one.
If you get the message “Can’t update your location” in Google Search after trying to update your location, you will have to give Google permission first to change it:
- In your browser, open up the google.com page.
- Click on the lock icon right next to the URL address bar.
- Check (or tick) the location permission for google.com.
Now you will be able to see how the SERP for a specific search query can look in different locations with custom coordinates.
Below is the example of 2 SERPs for the query “pizza” with custom coordinates for 2 locations – Bratislava (Slovak Republic) and London (United Kingdom):
3. Try a VPN service
VPNs (Virtual Private Networks) are one of the most popular services for changing your user location on the Internet (although probably for more piracy-like and streaming-like reasons … wink-wink 😉 )
VPN services are based on real servers that are located in different places in the world – meaning your real IP address (as well as any other private data) is hidden from Google.
By connecting to one of these servers, you are virtually present in a different location (and not in the physical place of your device).
Therefore, you will be able to see different search results displayed for the given location.
There are hundreds of cheap VPN providers that can help you change your location on Google – depending on your needs, you might try the most popular ones, or just try free VPNs that offer limited access to their services (or you can just take advantage of their trial versions).
4. Use Mangools SERPChecker tool
If you would like to change your location for SEO purposes and see the search engine result page in a particular country, you can simply use SEO tools like SERPChecker – an analysis tool that provides data about result pages for 65k+ locations:
- Just enter any search query that you would like to inspect.
- Select the country (or type the region).
- Choose the device (desktop or mobile).
- Hit the “Analyze SERP” button.
Our tool will then show you pages that are ranking for the chosen keyword in that particular region with all the important data for SERP analysis such as:
You can even take a snapshot of the particular search result page and manually check what it actually looks like in the chosen location:
5. Utilize Google Location Changer
If you need a quick and easy way to see different SERPs in various locations, you can simply use our free Google Location Changer.
This tool will allow you to see Google search results as if you were in another region, which is particularly useful for SEO research or for accessing location-specific content.
Here’s a step-by-step process on how to use the Mangools Google Location Changer:
- Head over to the Google Location Changer tool.
- In the search bar, type the search query you want to look up.
- Click on the dropdown menu next to the search bar and select the country, city, or even specific district for which you want to view the search results.
- If needed, you can also choose the preferred language for the search results by clicking on the language dropdown menu.
- Once you have set your location and language, click the “Open Google” button. The tool will show you the search results that are currently showing in the chosen local SERP.
With our SERP location changer, you can check any search results that are showing in a specific state or region.
How to check your IP address location
If you want to find out where your IP address is located, you can use a free tool like GeoTargetly’s IP Geolocation tool.
This tool allows you to see the geographic location associated with your IP address, which can be useful for understanding how websites and services might perceive your physical IP geolocation.
All you need to do is visit the website and see where the tool detects your IP address location:
Now that you know your IP address location, you can use this information to understand how your location is perceived by websites and online services.
The tool can also help you with troubleshooting location-based issues or understanding the reach of your Internet connection.
Conclusion
For those who need quick changes without much hassle, disabling location access in your browser or using the Google Location Changer tool can provide immediate results.
If you’re looking for more control over your digital presence or need to analyze search results from multiple regions, using a VPN or simulating SERP results can offer more comprehensive solutions.
No matter your goal, understanding and controlling your location settings on Google can improve your online experience, enhance the accuracy of your search results, and help protect your privacy.
Whether you’re a casual user, a digital marketer, or a web developer, these tools and techniques can help you navigate the Internet more effectively.
