increased change in "search the web" positions by searcher location

[Whitey]

I've noticed a ramping up of something I suspected. "Search the web" results on a localised Google seems to vary according to the IP of the user and the TLD of the website.

e.g. if you are in Sweden , looking for "Swedes" using the "search the web" filter , you will likely see preference given to .se TLD's . Either seems to trigger the preference.

It used to be just filtering on the localised search that would effect this. Has anyone seen this filtering more pronounced recently across the results ?

[tedster]

Is your observation based on a significant set of data, Whitey - or is it more of a general feeling you're getting?

[Whitey]

Here's an example of a few , where i focus in on competitor movments - so the data sample i got my hunch from was narrowed to about 20 examples.

NB - These terms do not reflect the strength of the variance on competitive terms - I'm just illustrating the concept here.

google.fr search - green widgets [google.fr]

Global Search : Variance includes French related sites by server location [ presumed ], language or TLD

google.co.za search - green widgets [google.co.za]

Global Search : Variance includes South Africa related site by TLD

I understand that DC's may vary , but there does seem to be something in play with the algorithm. This movement has been more pronounced recently - although i have seen it in play for some time.

[edited by: tedster at 4:36 pm (utc) on May 12, 2008]
[edit reason] fix side-scroll [/edit]