What % of UK searchers select "Pages from the UK"?

[Mark_A]

I am at the moment checking rankings for a UK site, using google.co.uk and selecting "Pages from the UK" but how realistic is this.

What proportion of UK searchers select "Pages from the UK" when they are looking for things?

Anyone have any idea?

[BeeDeeDubbleU]

I think perhaps Google are the only ones who would have accurate data on that but in my experience the results are not that different. Doesn't Google Geolocate you by default?

[HuskyPup]

What proportion of UK searchers select "Pages from the UK" when they are looking for things?

Without doing a search! I can't remember the figure however it must be pretty substantial since Google.co.uk is supposedly #20 on the web and #1 in the UK.

Certainly when I want UK results I always select "From the UK" but never use Google.co.uk when I want to check the .com results, those are not at all representative in my experience.

[Mark_A]

Hi BeeDeeDubbleU, well there are less competing sites when I select "Pages from the UK" which does mean that my rankings look more flattering than using the open web.

But that said, if UK users just search the web and don't select "Pages from the UK" then I am kidding myself checking my rankings on it. One example, for one term blue widgets in pages from the UK my site is at position 4, if I then check under the web, it falls to page 4!

You ask "Doesn't Google Geolocate you by default?" .. well perhaps,, it usually serves me google.co.uk for example, but the search set in "Pages from the UK" is definately smaller, or at least my rankings are higher in that than they are in "the web" on google.co.uk.

Hi HuskyPup

Yes if I want UK results I click the pages from the UK link, but what about normal punters, do they know to do this? do they want to do this?

[RedCardinal]

There was some research from Hitwise a few years back, Google [uk users using "pages from uk" research] will bring up the page.

Hitwise reckoned 13.6% used this feature, but that has probably decreased substantially since the option to filter results for UK is now in the sidebar.

[engine]

It's very tough to tell the figures, apart from looking at your own stats, which will be skewed by the serps. As was mentioned, only google will know for sure.

Hitwise does release stats every so often.

Here's the latest, not quite on the OT but useful either way.

UK: Social Networks Overtake Search In The UK [webmasterworld.com]

[Mark_A]

Thanks RedCardinal, yes it is at: [weblogs.hitwise.com...]

Well I guess that means I should stop doing my ranking checks on "pages from the UK". It is a shame because they flatter me, but who am I kidding, if people don't search like that, they don't!

[Mark_A]

Thanks engine, yes that social networking now provides more traffic than SEs is certainly interesting.

[zehrila]

For now i guess its only webmasters!

[piatkow]

As I can't use it until I already have some results I would only even think about it if the SERPS were visbly skewed to non UK sites. Actually I have seen results for London, Ontario after clicking on this option for a keyword + London search in the UK.

[konuzion]

This would be good to know. I tend to use it myself if looking to buy online but do wonder how many others do?

As I understand it - purely from observation - it would seem that "pages from the UK" only shows results for sites on UK servers or sites hosted elsewhere that have notified Google that they are UK based or primarily targeting a UK audience.

It is not the same as "geo-targeting" where Google basically assume you are looking for results in your "neighbourhood" and serve results based on your IP address irrespective of whether you use google.com, .co.uk, .id, or wherever.

[engine]

welcome to WebmasterWorld konuzion

from practical experience, putting my surfer hat on, when looking for uk info, and using google, I always select UK only.

[Mark_A]

I checked my rankings again today and for consistency I still used the "pages from UK" option. Trouble is, the people I report to don't use it and so telling them we have position 11 in the serps, when they look it looks more like pos 17 or perhaps 23 ...

I would really like to know how many UK searchers use "pages from UK" in their searches.

[FranticFish]

Well if the Hitwise data indicated 13% (only 1 in 7) 2008, when you could make the choice before doing the search, then I think that it's probably far lower now because (as said above) you have to modify your results once they're displayed. Most people are only likely to do this IMO if the first few aren't relevant, so it could vary quite a lot from
niche to niche.

WMT's impressions data might be useful for you. There is also an Analytics hack that allows you to tag keyword hits with the SERPS page number. If the difference in SERPS for UK / non-UK results is noticeable and fairly static then you might be able to get an idea of the numbers on a per-site basis.

[Mark_A]

Thanks for that FranticFish, I am not yet in WMT... may join up soon, but have not yet gotten round tuit!