google.com

getting forwarded to google.nl

[ClearlyBusiness]

is google starting now to move people to their respective countries?

Even though I am in the UK, when I just typed in google.com I got fowarded to google.nl

Not really sure why :)

anyone else noticed this?

[axelm]

Same for me in Germany
google.com -> google.de

I think for most of the users it makes more sense to get a interface in the native languages and native results.

Don't know how there are doing it, maybe geotargeting or browser sniffing.

Anyway for some very few users like us it's a disavantage.
For the others it's a benefit.

[snookie]

i remember when Lycos started doing this in 2000. It caused such an uproar that they changed back after a few days.

[nahdoic]

It is very easy to do and is based on your IP address.

Depending on what database of IP address ranges you are using there will always be a small margin of error (about 2%).

You must be falling into that 2% - it must be really annoying though. They should really just leave it as a link to their best guess at your country. Perhaps make the link stand out a little more for newbie users.

I mean if you want google.co.uk you are going to type in google.co.uk

[snookie]

When Lycos did it they redirected us (london based company) to the french site because our ISP was globalone.

[Nicola]

Don't worry everyone. Google seem to be attempting to shoot themselves in the foot that they haven't already shot themselves in.

Regional serps are great for regional searches. But most of the searches I do are not country specific, but language specific. USA/AU/UK/Canada all speak English, last time I checked. But if your IP won't allow you any turkey on Thanksgiving, then you may find you are not living in the USA.

Thanks Google for reminding us where we live. :-)

[GoogleGuy]

If you get a country redirect, there should be a "Google.com" link at the bottom of the page. It will set your preferences so that you don't get redirected to the country-specific version of Google. Now if you are in somewhere like the UK and it directs you to the wrong country (e.g. NL), then write to help [at] google.com so we can fix it for that IP address. :)

[Stefan]

Hey GoogleGuy, what are you doing here? I thought you Yanks were supposed to be watching football and murdering turkeys this weekend. Did you suddenly feel an over-powering need for abuse? Watch out for the "torches and pitch-forks" crew... the villagers have been restless lately. :-)

On topic:

GG, in Mozilla the cookie that is supposed to be set for .com doesn't seem to work. I get shunted to .ca anyway. I tried making sure that Mozilla will accept cookies from Google but it doesn't help. No big deal, anyway. Happy American Thanksgiving.

[zgb999]

Even by using the Google.com link at the bottom of the page that GoogleGuy suggested it is not possible to get all information.

By using the link "Google.com in English" I get to the English Google but when I want to check the English guidelines and click on the link "Jobs, Press, & Help" (on the English page) I get to the German content (with no link to the English content) so I am not able to see the English content (which has been reported to have changed because of word stemming).

[subway]

Even though I am in the UK, when I just typed in google.com I got fowarded to google.nl

Well that's kinda left me scratching my head a little. Shouldn't you have been directed to .co.uk?

P.S. Hi GG, any idea when Google will be fixed?

[GoogleGuy]

zgb999, do you have cookies turned on? That's where we save the "do you not want the country redirect" setting.

[Dave_Hawley]

when I just typed in google.com I got fowarded to google.xx

Hasn't this always been the case? If you have the Google toolbar (nice little product) you only need to click the Google link.

Dave

[Nicola]

What is the point of Google.co.uk?

It shows the same non-regional results as the .com for the searches I have tried.

Even when I used the "pages from the UK" radio button, the results became filled with old news stories and off topic blogs and message boards.

Searching regionally seems to have changed a lot since the last update. Quite frankly it's a mess.

[Visit Thailand]

I have a similar problem. I am in Thailand and so get taken to co.th

OK no problems but when I click to go to Google.com I get the regular Google with Chinese writing underneath the logo but it is google.com

Strange but am not overly concerned.

[zgb999]

GoogleGuy

Thank you for personally answering questions like this!

I have turned cookies on. If I disable cookies, I am not even able to get to the english google.com. Having turned cookies off (which I tried because of your mentioning cookies) I am getting to the German version of google.ch if I click on "Google.com in English". Only if I have turned cookies on I get to the English version of google.com. But again then I am not able to get the english guidelines as I am getting the German content by clicking "Jobs, Press, & Help" on the english google.com.

I checked out the other links on the english google.com. I get the english content for all of them. Only the link "Jobs, Press, & Help" shows me German content. The same thing happens if I go through [google.com...] and then click on the link "Jobs, Press, & Help".

You mentioned the setting "do you not want the country redirect" can this setting be turned off anywhere?

Thanks again for your help!

[snookie]

GoogleGuy,

There is a prob with Mozilla accepting cookies from google. I tried updating my safesearch options the other day and it refused...

snookie

[zgb999]

Thank you GoogleGuy (or whoever at Google who did it)!

I am now able to read the English guidelines again. The link "Jobs, Press, & Help" on the English google.com now gets me to the English content and not the German content anymore.

[ClearlyBusiness]

me too thanks.

not getting forwarded to google.nl

but somehow I would hope, google would start forwarding people to the uk pages only of google.co.uk for people living in the UK