Google UK SERPs mixing in US based queries
Many people have spotted a large amount of US based listings appear for queries on Google UK this morning.
Two of the SERPs I noticed changes for were queries on search marketing and Kevin Gibbons. Both of these results are normally dominated by UK listings, but today these are mixed with US results which do not normally feature unless performing a query on Google.com.
Here’s some of the tweets on Twitter from more users who have noticed the same thing occurring:
As I mentioned on Twitter, I have seen this happening a few times in the past and it is normally a temporary change which is quickly switched back. I would expect this to be the case again, but good to see that so many people are on the ball by noticing this straight away!
June 4th, 2009 at 1:57 pm
Read the first paragraph, and I got a bit stressed…lol… Glad its an Anomaly..
Question is WHY is it Occurring? Any thoughts that you would care to share???
June 4th, 2009 at 2:14 pm
Just look’s like a bit of a hiccup from Google, which they should switch back pretty quickly.
Have you noticed anything similar in google.com.au?
June 4th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
Nothing too strange to be honest. I have though seen my hold on SERPS for key traffic terms Solidify for some of my bigger sites.
June 4th, 2009 at 9:09 pm
[...] Google UK SERPs mixing in US based queries, SEOptimise [...]
June 5th, 2009 at 11:23 am
I’ve seen a lot of movement on Google over the past few weeks… Not sure how long it will stay like this
June 8th, 2009 at 11:34 am
We have noticed a mix in the serps lately. Our site has been bumped from #5 or #15, but no need for panic just yet. Seen it before & usually sorts itself out with a few weeks. Its a pain though.
June 8th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
I’ve often found there is an overlap between UK and US results for various issues. Clearly, it’s more noticeable with the issue here – but Google doesn’t seem to separate US and UK at times. Take for instance the keyword research tool. We do SEO work for law firms and US-related search volumes are always part of the mix despite choosing to search for UK-related results. Then I’ve submitted UK-specific requests for help to Google forums and no-one answers. Anyone know what Google thinks about the UK? :-(
June 10th, 2009 at 1:56 pm
[...] Live #eu09 resultsAnyone else seeing geo-location issues in Google UK SERPS? http://bit.ly/18WpFQRT @stephenfry: Ribbit! You can film yourself with a frog! http://frog.rainforestsos.org/Going to [...]
June 13th, 2009 at 7:18 am
The SERPS for my most competitive keywords on Google UK has become very dominated by US results in the past 7 or 8 days. The top 2 sites are still .co.uks – one of which is mine unfortunately but the other sites are all US. Since these sites sell in dollars and not sterling I’m not sure if this is a good thing or bad thing for me.
June 18th, 2009 at 9:20 am
[...] was back at the start of June that a number of SEOs spotted a change in the Google UK search results where by US sites seemed to be ranking unusually high for [...]
June 18th, 2009 at 12:02 pm
[...] Google UK SERPs mixing in US based queries, SEOptimise [...]
June 23rd, 2009 at 4:22 am
[...] guide for noobs)is on the way – I’ve just been so busy this last 2 weeks with all the changes in Google UK Serps and client reports. It’ll go out very shortly I [...]
June 29th, 2009 at 9:52 am
[...] have been moving a lot in the last few weeks but without any real patterns (other than US results appearing for UK specific queries which is probably just an error). Today the results are full of authority [...]
June 30th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
[...] have been moving a lot in the last few weeks but without any real patterns (other than US results appearing for UK specific queries which is probably just an error). Today the results are full of authority [...]
July 7th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
[...] Google uk mixing in us based queries – SEOptimise [...]
July 21st, 2009 at 9:33 pm
[...] of a death by a thousand cuts? The fact that Google.co.uk SERPs have been showing all sorts of international results mixed into them has been common knowledge for well over a month, ever since the Vince update. [...]
August 3rd, 2009 at 10:47 pm
[...] guide for noobs)is on the way – I’ve just been so busy this last 2 weeks with all the changes in Google UK Serps and client reports. It’ll go out very shortly I [...]
August 7th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
[...] have been moving a lot in the last few weeks but without any real patterns (other than US results appearing for UK specific queries which is probably just an error). Today the results are full of authority [...]
August 11th, 2009 at 12:49 pm
[...] witnessed some sites drop from the first page in Google UK for highly competitive keywords and replaced with US sites. These were websites which had held their authoritative positions for several years. PPC Blog [...]
August 14th, 2009 at 8:15 am
[...] better sites. Even spammy sites ranking with exact match domains, and it got WORSE with the recent Google UK SERP update a lot of people where complaining [...]
August 16th, 2009 at 9:01 am
[...] better sites. Even spammy sites ranking with exact match domains, and it got WORSE with the recent Google UK SERP update a lot of people where complaining [...]
August 25th, 2009 at 7:34 pm
[...] Gibbons of SEOptimise, also a Search Engine Land writer, was one of the people who noticed the US results first. After that more and more started to notice bizarre search [...]
August 26th, 2009 at 12:50 am
In fact it’s not just an issue between UK and USA databases. I can see dramatic SERP changes every single day everywhere. Domains go up to the top places just for a day to go off top 1000 the next one! Hopefully Google guys will stop these annoying happenings. To be honest it is the first so serious “Google dance” since 2002
September 9th, 2009 at 5:57 pm
[...] 1. This intermingling of inappropriate American content in the search results is not something new. Google appears to have been testing this for a while, and I have been reading about these changes in the results since at least June. [...]
September 18th, 2009 at 2:55 pm
The UK Google SERP is still thoroughly bugger…not working. My site’s riding high in Caffeine but it’s fudged beyond belief right now. Any ideas? Any body else still suffering at the hands of a Google UK algorithm tweak?
October 21st, 2009 at 11:10 am
Try a google.co.uk search for “chartered accountant in windermere”. try again with “results from the UK”. The local results are fine, the organics are topped by canadian and US sites. I have seen a blog post by Matt Cutts stating that this is a permanent change. Completely bonkers.
November 22nd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
[...] six months ago only to be replaced by a US or Australian site, it’s probably because of the #ukserps issue which has been a common talking point. Being aware of updates such as Vince and Caffeine helps you [...]
December 6th, 2009 at 4:11 pm
[...] UK six months ago only to be replaced by a US or Australian site, it’s probably because of the #ukserps issue which has been a common talking point. Being aware of updates such asVince and Caffeine helps you [...]
January 13th, 2010 at 10:30 pm
[...] has been well documented by the likes of DaveN, SearchCowboys and Kevin Gibbons, Google often includes irrelevant foreign sites for searches that require local results. Even now [...]
February 15th, 2010 at 10:12 am
[...] Gibbons of SEOptimise, also a Search Engine Land writer, was one of the people who noticed the US results first. After that more and more started to notice bizarre search [...]