Banished from Google

[shewhomust]

Yesterday my search engine of choice was Google - and when I say Google, I mean google.com. Doesn't everyone?

Then Firefox demanded to be updated.

It's been doing this for a couple of days, but since the demand came with a warning that the update wasn't compatitle with my Google toolbar, I thought I'd let it ride. But the demands were repeated, with increasing urgency, so I thought, OK, I'd fix the toolbar manually. And today I updated to Firefox 5.

No Google toolbar. Firefox talks about lots of shiny add-ons (coloured tabs!) none of which is a Google toolbar. Google says its toolbar is not compatitble with Firefox 5. Oops.

Never mind, I can always open a tab and go to Google.com, can't I?

No, I can't. I can type www.google.com until I'm blue in the face, I'm still automatically transferred to Google.co.uk. This is thanks to some nifty new 'location-based customization feature' (excuse me, if this is Google UK, shouldn't that be "customisation"?) so that when I search for 'restaurants' say, priority will be given to restaurants in Gateshead (apparently I'm in Gateshead).

How often do I search for 'restaurants'? This was the first time. A specific restaurant, occasionally. And I admit that occasionally I search for the library in a particular town, and have to take care not to be misled by the library of a town of that name in the USA, but I can cope. It's interesting. But most of my searches are for general information, and I want the results to be as wide as possible. If I want filters and restrictions, I'll impose them.

Luckily, there are some helpful FAQs, and I go to "Can I turn off location-based customization?" Less luckily, the answer is "No."

In full, it's "The customization of search results based on location is an important component of a consistent, high-quality search experience. Therefore, we haven't provided a way to turn off location customization, although we've made it easy for you to set your own location or to customize using a general location as broad as the country that matches your local domain."

At least I'm not in Gateshead any more, I'm now in the UK, but I don't want to be in the UK, I want to be in the world (as in World Wide Web).

Does anyone have any suggestions?


PS. So I'm not allowed to go to Google.com, but I can go to Google.fr if I want to - and I can specify my location to get restaurant recommendations in Rennes. Which got me thinking, and I'm no longer in the UK, I'm now in Kirkwall (a girl can dream).

Comments

[sovay]

Does anyone have any suggestions?

Have you tried another browser? I've just checked, using Safari (5.0.2, because I haven't updated in forever, apparently), that I can load Google.com, Google.co.uk, and Google.fr.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

My other browser is IE6 (because if I can design a website that'll run on IE6 and Firefox, it'll run on most things) and that too bumps me the the UK.

Remember that you're in the US, which *is* the world...

(try the 'restaurants' test to find out where Google thinks you are)

[sovay]

My other browser is IE6 (because if I can design a website that'll run on IE6 and Firefox, it'll run on most things) and that too bumps me the the UK.

I'm out of suggestions, then; I'm sorry. How incredibly stupid!

(try the 'restaurants' test to find out where Google thinks you are)

. . . It thinks I'm in New Haven. I haven't been in New Haven in five years. What?

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Ah, but do you know where your server is?

[sovay]

Ah, but do you know where your server is?

It's three o'clock and it should be downstairs in our basement . . .

[inamac.livejournal.com]

Ah! This explains why,whenever I google for a supplier of something it keeps telling me the nearest ones are in Sheffield. Which is odd when the vast resources of London are only ten miles down the road...

May have to abandon Firefox.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Try resetting your location on Google - in the left hand margin.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

I realise this isn't going to be directly helpful, but I use firefox 5.0 and google.com and have not experienced the problem of which you speak.

I can click on 'go to google uk' but that brings up some page I don't recognise full of...random crap I don't want to look at... and a wee google search box squished into the top of the page, but I can revert to .com without problem.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

aaaaargh, now I've screwed things up by clicking on 'go to google.com' and I'm stuck with a stupid page full of stuff about carbon footprints. aaaaargh. aaaaaargh.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank heavens, I'm back to where I started! ('gear' symbol gives me a menu where I can select 'classic home' and all is now well)

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

It does? That's not what it offers me. (On the other hand, it shows me some preferences, including that it has decided I'd like a moderate filter on my results, so it was certainly worth looking at).

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

I get a menu including preferences under my email address, and another one with the 'gear'. The gear gives me searching settings/advanced search/language tools/iGoogle - when I was in iGoogle the last option was 'classic home'. (I learned about this by googling...)

It didn't seem to work at first, I clicked a few links involving 'home' before I got to a place where the gear menu gave me the options I wanted.

I tried the ncr thing, but that still left me stuck in iGoogle which is clearly the work of the devil.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

durham_rambler suggests that if you have a Google account, this may explain the variation in our mileage.

[lamentables.livejournal.com]

Ah. I hadn't thought of that.

[wolfinthewood.livejournal.com]

The magic incantation, that they keep very quiet about, is http://www.google.com/ncr.

I believe 'ncr' stands for 'no country redirect'.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank goodness! And thank *you*

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

Thank you also, though, in fact, I wasn't getting the location thing and all my toolbars transferred when I upgraded. However, in case it tries this on my, I have bookmarked.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

So when you search via the toolbar, are you still given 'localized' results, or are you exempt?

[lil-shepherd.livejournal.com]

I seem to be exempt - but don't ask me why!

[athenais.livejournal.com]

This happened to me in Sweden. I didn't *want* my Google search to default to Google.co.se! No love, Firefox.

[shewhomust.livejournal.com]

Hey, this isn't Firefox's fault, this is a Google feature (which I noticed because of the Firefox upgrade). Google is the over-eager toddler who wants to 'help' you...