Problem with Google localized search

[yosmc]

I'm afraid I can't explain this one with widgets, but let's assume I'm running a football site. That's because, as we all know, football means different things in different countries, right?

So my site deals with NFL football, the type of football with the egg-shaped ball. My visitors are all from the US, and for quite some time, my site ranked well for the term "football" in the US.

But then my rankings went downhill. Continuously. At least for visitors from the US.

I, the webmaster, happen to live in Europe, and I have noticed that, when I enter "football" in Google over here, my site is number one. The odd thing - we don't have an NFL here, and when we play football, we play it with the round ball.

I have no idea what's going on, and why Google is doing this. Last year, I've even explicitly told Google (via Google webmaster tools) that my site is in the United States, but that doesn't help. In fact, when I click the option to only show results from my country, my site doesn't show up - but when I allow all sites, Google thinks the site is top relevant to my country, and shows it as #1. Just makes no sense to me. I've even checked my backlinks, but they are all from American NFL sites.

Can anyone help?

[Leosghost]

you host in which country?

[yosmc]

US

[Leosghost]

Unless you have the NFL official site..then what you see when

when I enter "football" in Google over here, my site is number one

then what you see is personalised to you ..

I just tried that search term via G from where I am France..and via proxy from 3 other countries ..BBC was top in each case..NFL at number 2 ..all the rest said football ..but were in fact "soccer" as the BBC was.

or am I taking your example too literally ?

[yosmc]

Yes, you are taking it too literally. Last time I visited this forum, giving the actual example was frowned upon.

EDIT: But it seems like I have actually figured it out - thanks for your assistance. It seems like Google is showing me different SERPs when I'm logged into my Google account. Wasn't aware of that!

[Leosghost]

Thats what I said :)..it can even happen to a lesser degree when you are signed out ..:(

re examples here ..used to be that way ( I preferred it that way ) but over the last year actual examples and links to sites and "problems" seem to happen more and more often ..nowadays I assume if it doesn't say "widgets"..its probably the actual term ..apologies to ya :)