How to change Google search location: 5 ways

Google picks your search location from four inputs: the device location your browser or phone reports, the Home and Work addresses saved in your Google Account, your past activity, and your IP address. The footer of every results page names the input it used, with labels such as “From your device” or “From your internet address”. Any answer to how to change Google search location starts with that label, because each method below replaces a different input.

One old shortcut is gone. On April 15, 2025, Google announced it would redirect country domains such as google.co.uk and google.com.br to google.com, because results have followed the searcher’s location rather than the domain since 2017. Typing google.de in New York gets you google.com with New York results.

The short version: for a country-level view, the Results region setting or the gl URL parameter is enough. For a city-level local pack, set coordinates with Chrome DevTools or uule, and if the footer still reads your IP, add a proxy in the same city.

Why you might need a different search location

Most people who look up how to change Google search location are checking someone else’s results page. An SEO consultant in Lisbon auditing a dental clinic in Denver needs the Denver local pack. A PPC manager launching in Canada wants to see which competitors’ ads show in Toronto. A QA team checks that a localized landing page shows the right currency and phone number.

How Google decides where you are searching from

Device location is the precise input. When google.com has location permission, the browser reports coordinates, and Google keeps the last value in a cookie that expires after 6 hours, so it can answer before the browser finishes locating you. That cookie is why Google can still show the previous city after you change every setting and reload.

Without device location, Google estimates a “general area”, which its help page defines as larger than 3 sq km and home to at least 1,000 users. The usual source is the IP address. If you’re signed in and Google thinks you’re at a saved Home or Work address, it uses that exact address. Previous searches count too: a search for coffee shops in Chelsea followed by “nail salon” returns salons in Chelsea.

IP-based location is the weak link at city level. MaxMind, whose GeoIP2 database is widely used for IP lookups, puts its accuracy for US addresses at about 80% for the state and 66% for the city within a 50 km radius. Google keeps its own data, but the problem is the same for anyone mapping IP ranges to places: an address sold as Austin can resolve to San Antonio, about 120 km away.

Five ways to change your location on Google

1. Switch the Results region in Search settings

This is the only built-in control. On google.com, open Settings in the bottom right corner, then Search settings, Other settings, Language and region, and Results region. Pick a country and click Confirm.

It works at country level and no finer. A marketer in Berlin who sets the region to the United Kingdom gets UK organic results, but queries with local intent, such as “dentist near me”, still follow the device or IP location. Google says it is moving these controls into new Search services settings, so menu names may differ on your account.

2. Add gl, hl and uule parameters to the search URL

Three parameters cover most localization work. gl takes a two-letter country code and sets the market the results are ranked for. hl sets the interface language. uule sets a location inside the country, down to a city. Google does not document uule, so treat it as observed behavior rather than a supported API.

https://www.google.com/search?q=emergency+plumber&gl=us&hl=en&uule=w+CAIQICIeQ2hpY2FnbyxJbGxpbm9pcyxVbml0ZWQgU3RhdGVz

This uule is built from a canonical name in Google Ads’ geotargets list, “Chicago,Illinois,United States”. It starts with the fixed prefix w+CAIQICI, then one character that encodes the name’s length (30 characters maps to “e”, character 30 of the base64 alphabet counting from zero), then the name in base64. A misspelled name still produces a valid-looking string that Google ignores, so copy names from the geotargets file.

Two 2025 changes break older URL templates. Around September 10, 2025, Google stopped honoring num=100, so a template asking for 100 results per page now returns 10 without an error. And Google Search has required JavaScript since January 2025, so open these URLs in a real browser rather than fetching them over plain HTTP. Parameters also leave your IP untouched: with an IP in another country, local results may not fully follow uule. Check the footer before you trust the page.

3. Emulate GPS coordinates in Chrome DevTools

This method replaces device location, the most precise input Google reads, with coordinates you choose. It works the same way in Chrome and Microsoft Edge.

1. In Google Maps, right-click the spot you want to search from and click the coordinates at the top of the menu to copy them, for example 41.8781, -87.6298 for the Loop in Chicago.
2. Open the Google results page and press Ctrl+Shift+I (Cmd+Option+I on macOS) to open DevTools.
3. Press Ctrl+Shift+P (Cmd+Shift+P on macOS), type “sensors” and choose Show Sensors.
4. In the Location drop-down, choose Other and enter the latitude and longitude. For repeat checks, save a preset under DevTools Settings > Locations with a time zone ID such as America/Chicago and the locale en-US.
5. Click the site information icon to the left of the address bar and allow Location for google.com.
6. Reload the page with DevTools still open, then click “Update location” in the footer if Google shows it.

The override lasts only while DevTools stays open in that tab. Close it, and the next search uses your real location or the 6-hour cookie from the last emulated one, which is harder to spot. Clear cookies for google.com when you move between cities.

4. Preview results in the Google Ads Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool

Advertisers have an official simulator. In Google Ads, open Tools, then Troubleshooting, then Ad Preview and Diagnosis. Enter a keyword and set the location (from a country down to a city), language and device. Unlike a live search for your own keyword, the preview registers no impressions.

You need a Google Ads account, and since the tool is built around ads, treat the organic part of the preview as a rough guide. It also has outages: on August 4, 2026, Search Engine Roundtable reported the tool showing a reCAPTCHA that could not be dismissed, so no preview loaded.

5. Route the browser through a proxy or VPN in the target location

Most guides on how to change Google search location stop before the IP address. Methods 1 to 4 leave it alone, yet it is what Google falls back on whenever device location is missing. A proxy or VPN replaces it.

A consumer VPN moves the whole device to a server picked from a fixed list, usually in a capital or a large city. Its addresses sit in hosting networks that IP databases label as VPN, and Google is more likely to answer such traffic with its “unusual traffic” check. A proxy can be assigned to one browser profile, and residential proxies with city targeting give you an address a home internet provider issued in the city you need. Our breakdown of how websites recognize proxies explains how sites tell hosting, VPN and residential addresses apart.

For a city check, stack the layers: a proxy exit in Chicago, DevTools coordinates in Chicago, and gl=us with a Chicago uule. When every input points at the same place, Google has nothing to reconcile.

Keep it manual. Google’s robots.txt disallows /search, and its Terms of Service prohibit automated access that ignores such instructions. A proxy setup suits checks at human pace: a localized landing page, a client’s local pack, ad copy in a new market. Scheduled tracking of hundreds of keywords belongs in a rank tracker.

Which method to use

Choosing how to change Google search location comes down to the input you need to replace and how fine the location must be.

Methods 1, 2 and 4 cost nothing and cover most country-level work. For a local pack, try method 3 first. If the footer then shows your target city with “From your device”, you’re done. If it says “From your internet address”, Google isn’t reading your coordinates and the IP decides, which is the case for method 5.

Choosing a proxy for location checks

Three properties matter for SERP checks. City targeting comes first, since a country-level IP only repeats what gl already does. Then session length: if the IP rotates halfway through a 20-keyword check, half of your screenshots come from another address. Then traffic terms, because occasional checks use little data and an expiring balance wastes most of it. To size a plan, load one results page with the DevTools Network panel open and multiply the transferred size by your monthly checks.

Proxys.io covers both kinds of check. For a local pack, its residential proxies with city targeting reach 195 countries, and the rotation timer keeps one IP for up to 60 minutes, enough for a full session. For a weekly country-level baseline, a static ISP proxy in one of 25 countries keeps the same residential-classified address, so week-to-week comparisons don’t mix IPs. Static datacenter IPv4 starts at $1.40 per month with unlimited traffic, but Google challenges hosting addresses more often, so keep those for low-volume country checks.

There are gaps. The residential product lists no ZIP or ASN targeting, which Decodo and Bright Data offer for neighborhood-level checks. Its traffic expires after 30, 60 or 90 days, while an IPRoyal balance never does. And ISP proxies have their own return terms outside the 24-hour refund.

Why localized results still look wrong

When the footer names the right city but the results don’t match what a local sees, one of four causes is usually at work. A signed-in account brings Home and Work addresses and Web & App Activity, which can outweigh a fresh IP. The 6-hour location cookie survives a proxy switch. The exit IP resolves to a neighboring city in Google’s data, whatever a public lookup tool says. Or gl and hl disagree: gl=us with hl=de is valid, but few people in Chicago search with a German interface.

This order of checks rules the causes out one by one:

1. Open a new Chrome profile or an Incognito window and stay signed out of Google.
2. Connect that profile to the proxy and look up the exit IP in two geolocation databases, since they can disagree about the city.
3. Set DevTools coordinates and the time zone for the same city.
4. Load the search URL with gl, hl and uule values that match the city.
5. Read the footer, which should name the target city before you record anything.
6. Save the screenshot with the time, exit IP and coordinates, and reuse the same profile and parameters next time.

Frequently asked questions

How to change Google search location on a phone?

On Android, open Settings, then Location, App permission, and pick Chrome or the Google app. Deny access, and Google falls back to your IP. On an iPhone the switch is under Settings, Privacy & Security, Location Services. The Results region setting works in mobile browsers too, but it only changes the country; another city needs a proxy or VPN on the phone.

Does google.co.uk still show UK results?

Not because of the domain. Google redirects country domains to google.com and has localized results by the searcher’s location since 2017, so google.co.uk opened in Paris shows French results. Add gl=gb to a google.com search URL instead, or set the United Kingdom as your Results region.

Is changing your Google search location allowed?

Yes for your own settings: Google provides the Results region control and documents how location works. The limit is automated querying. Google’s robots.txt disallows /search, and its terms exclude automated access that ignores it, so keep checks manual.

Which setup to keep for regular checks

For a one-off look at another country’s organic results, put gl in the URL; it costs nothing and leaves your settings alone. For a local pack in one city, start with DevTools coordinates and add a city-targeted proxy only when the footer keeps reading your IP. For your own site’s performance by country, skip simulation: the Search Console Performance report has a Countries tab built from real impressions. Anything you would run on a schedule belongs in a rank tracker.