Google UK Results Still Showing Irrelevant US Sites
Having congratulated myself on my driving skills, I started to weigh up whether it would be cheaper to go through the insurance or just buy a door off the internets. Regardless of what we were saying yesterday, I didn’t bother Twittering about it or asking my Facebook friends for advice – I went to Google.
Search Google.co.uk for “toyota corolla rear door” and this is what you get…
Anyway, Matt Cutts mentioned this in a Webmaster Central video (see below to watch him not quite answering the question), but really I think Google needs to sort out what the purpose of Google.co.uk is. If it isn’t going to give results weighted to the UK in the first place then I don’t quite get it.
It’s not often a problem, but when it is, it always seems to be some kind of vertical you’d think would be an obvious thing to skew to the UK – like car parts in this instance. More importantly, if anyone wants to flog me a rear passenger side door for a 2003 Corolla…
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But then why offer the filter between pages from the web and uk?
One of my mechanic friends just bought engine mounts from a US based website though (so the planned supercharger doesn’t detroy his engine, lol), so it certainly isn’t totally irrelevant to everyone. I was watching him and his mate from work fitting them, but I got uncomfortable and left. Felt too much like being on the set of a gay porn shoot
@Churchillian
Yeah – but that means searching, clicking the first half dozen links to see if they’re relevant, then going to the radio button and searching again… and… I dunno. Why not just set ‘pages from the UK’ as a the default?
@TallTroll
I don’t care about the homoeroticism… do they do doors on cheap Japanese cars? 🙂
Google phaile! If they are intending on people using the UK only filter from now on, it would be nice to get a heads up!
Also, fitting a supercharger to a car is just about the most heterosexual thing a man can do!
Heh, no, it’s specifically a performance parts site. But then, the total cost of ordering and shipping from the US was lower than ordering from the UK (and his missus works for a car parts delivery outfit!). I mean, yes it is clearly a different requirement, but it makes the point that for a fairly generic query like car parts, having .com sites, even actual US .com sites at the top doesn’t necessarily lead to a reduction in relevance.
Not knowing the relative demand for engine mounts vs doors you smashed in, I wouldn’t care to guess if this is one of those cases or not though
>> Also, fitting a supercharger to a car is just about the most heterosexual thing a man can do!
You clearly don’t know any mechanics 😉
good spot Paul – another example of the most drawn out algo bug i’ve ever seen! some people reckon its deliberate but i cant see what the point of serving up these kinds of results are, and I’m baffled as to why they are taking so long to fix. Having ‘pages from the UK’ as default is not the answer either – for many informational queries you usually dont care where the site is from, as long as its the best result.
But for locally relevant and transactional queries G should be able to tell that the user really needs to see UK specific results here. You could say it’s complicated to decide that, but the thing is before June G did a very good job of it!
The ‘pages from the UK’ button was a useful refinement on certain queries but you shouldnt have to fricking click it on queries like this.
Can we see a picture of your skilled driving please?
Hey, as Jaamit and you have pointed out – good spot on a long running bug.
I find the example of the turbocharger interesting, as it tends to be us SEOs who spot this bug, but the people at risk? the user.
And lets not forget users have a brain the size on an ant when it comes to online – so really the question is – Why is google raising the threat of some old granny ordering a $100 car door from the USA or Oz, paying $400 shipping and wondering why in the hell did Google send her there…
It’s a joke. Doesn’t make sense and completely outrageous. When will it stop.
Google.co.uk SERPs are ‘broke’ for not just this, but many travel keywords as well, which I track regularly. In the name of highlighting brands(why?) Google.co.uk today ranks ‘brands’ whether .com or others on top 10 results, even though the page isn’t optimized remotely for that keyword/location. Did we think internet esp. Google Search is a great leveller, where small brands can compete well with top brands if they only try – not anymore, folks! Google has kowtowed to the ‘brands’ because ultimately they can’t lose the multi-million $ PPC moolah brands throw in. Talk about ‘don’t be evil’
>> Google has kowtowed to the ‘brands’ because ultimately they can’t lose the multi-million $ PPC moolah brands throw in.
Or, maybe if people search for [brand name], and a search engine doesn’t return brand.com, they will think its a rubbish search engine. Yes, it benefits the brands too, but to be fair, they really *do* deserve to show for a query *for the brand name* whether their SEO is especially good or not. Lest it be forgotten, SEs are meant to be a way for people to find information, not just for SEOs to make money from.
Totally agree – Google don’t seem to care about us provincials – this mess has been going on long enough – get it fixed Matt or we’ll come round and shave your head again. ;0)
@TallTroll – I’m pretty sure no-one is complaining about brand keywords – the issue is that of brands being given a leg-up on generic terms.
It is an true fact that really I think Google needs to sort out what the purpose of Google.co.uk is. If it isn’t going to give results weighted to the UK in the first place then I don’t quite get it. Yes, it benefits the brands too, but to be fair, they really do deserve to show for a query for the brand name whether their SEO is especially good for the promoting any Website……
Interesting that Cutts didn’t answer it at all – he just called non-UK sites “.com’s” as if anything with.com is outside the UK.
Also try searching queries for “rent” or “hire” – like “hire tennis court” in the UK listings. You’ll see a bunch of tennis courts for hire in Australia.
Matt Cutts dodged the question because he just dileneated between “.co.uk” sites and “.com” sites but he missed the point that many searches imply you want to find a local company like “hire” or “rent” yet they come up with companies on the other side of the world.
To me this and other issues shows Google’s algo still isn’t that sophisticated.
I think google must work on this after having improved the google search.
But aren’t the results weighted to the UK those that you get when you choose the ‘pages from the UK’ option under the search box? Which in the case of your example shows only car dealers who sell ‘toyota corolla rear doors’.
Wow, I am really amazed at how many ‘experienced’ internet users really miss the basics.
You really must start selecting the ‘pages from the UK’ option.
Why do you think Google put it there for??
Sheesh!
@Vince – thanks for the insight, but you haven’t really got the point. How can I tell which results are from the US until I’ve clicked a few in the first place..? And then I’ve got to start my search again?
Sometimes the results are perfect for a UK user… sometimes they’re not. For a news or general information search, worldwide results are fine as a default, but in a vertical like this you’d think that Google should be able to understand that UK results should take precedence.
because you’re using google.co.uk to search the web not the UK. I want information about something.. I want to find that info where ever in the world it is stored
Now.. if I’m buying something.. then I tick the box or look for the co.uk addresses.
I just tested it today and the issue seems fixed.
All first page results except the one from WikiPedia are from UK websites.