I am trying to search for competition portals / listings in the USA to promote my new website competition. Trouble is, I'm located in the UK and whatever I search for seems to only return UK results. Obviously I've tried searching Google.com rather than .co.uk Is there something you can do to trick Google into thinking you are located in the USA so that you get to see the same results as the people in the USA?
Use this tool http://www.mcdar.net/dance/index.php I think that it will do the trick And there is also http://www.seochat.com/googledance/ which you can go through each country
Hmmm - I'm still getting UK results back. Maybe it's just that the UK sites rank higher than the US sites on this keyword. Can anyone in the US confirm this search for me. When I search for "Competitions" I get the following UK biased results: 1. UK Competitions 2. The Prize Finder - UK Competitions - Win Prizes 3. Graphic Competitions 4. The Competition Project 5. You're visiting the AMC Home Page! The American Mathematics ... 6. ART DEADLINES LIST: art grants, art scholarships, art contests ... 7. Loquax - The UK Competitions Portal 8. The Chronicle of Higher Education: Grants & Fellowships 9. Competitions 10. Competitions - Compers News If you get different results then I guess I must be using those tools wrong that Foxy suggested.
The only way to do it would be to use a US-based proxy. Google sends different results based on the country you are in.
I tried using a US proxy but that seemed to make no difference. Can anyone in the US confirm what the top ten listings are on Google when searching for keyword "Competitions"? Also, can anyone recommend a better way of finding competition portals in the USA? There MUST be a way of getting this information on Google with some kind of special search query...
I use a US proxy and do get us results and yes what you see is it. They don't have competitions just coupons..... you get a bit more when you are more specific usa competition web design etc.
I'm glad Expat said what he did because these tools are based and triggered from where they are - I would doubt that your input in the "search" box would make f... all difference. So wysiwyg Actually, today is just starting to piss me off!
Remember, I suspect that your problem is not that you are getting UK results by default even though you may be using Google.com but that you may be getting a preponderance of UK results as you are searching for the term competitions which IMO is primarily UK English useage. US web sites would tend to use the term competition instead and sure enough for that term you get a different set of results which are more internationally spread: 1.www.competition-commission.org.uk 2.www.irtc.org 3.www.usfirst.org/ 4.europa.eu.int/comm/competition/index_en.htm 5.www.accc.gov.au/ 6.www.clubi.ie/competition/compframesite/ 7.www.compcams.com/ 8.www.siemens-foundation.org 9.www.invent.org/collegiate/ 10.www.thinkquest.org/ But for you purposes it seems to me that searching for the term website competition would give you a better set of results: 1.dublin.anglican.org/pr/2002/pr020517-website.html 2.www.geocities.com/lavenderslinks/ve/competitions.html 3.www.geocities.com/lavenderslinks/ve/voteforme.html 4.www.euro2004.com/competitions/euro/ 5.www.fishyfishing.com/ index.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=44 6.www.fishyfishing.com/ index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=418 7.www.walkingbus.com/competitions.htm 8.www.theprizefinder.com/ 9.www.jaypeakresort.com/page.asp?intNodeID=16298 10.www.audleyharrison.com/competitions/default.asp Since I see the same results in Malaysia that Remember is seeing in the UK and that I see when using a secure US proxy, or when searching from the toolbar using Google.com I doubt that Google is serving up different SERPs based on the location of the user, at least in this case. Minstrel I see no differences in the serps when using a US based secure proxy and using google.com from the toolbar when searching for the term competitions, but if I try to use Google.com by typing the address into the address bar it redirects to the google.com.my site regardless, and returns a different set of SERPS. This seems to indicate to me that using google.com through the toolbar does indeed allow one to search Google in a different fashion.
Actually I get a slightly different set of results searching from the UK on Google.com for "website comeptitions" or "website competition". Here are the results for website competitions: 1 .web.vjc.moe.edu.sg/students/cca/icomp/competitions.php 2. dublin.anglican.org/pr/2002/pr020517-website.html 3. www.geocities.com/lavenderslinks/ve/competitions.html 4. www.euro2004.com/competitions/euro/ 5. www.fishyfishing.com/ index.php?name=Forums&file=viewforum&f=44 6. www.fishyfishing.com/ index.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&p=418 7. www.walkingbus.com/competitions.htm 8. www.theprizefinder.com/ 9. www.jaypeakresort.com/page.asp?intNodeID=16298 10. www.audleyharrison.com/competitions/default.asp Looks like Google DOES server different results dependant on geographic location.
Remember I suspect that this may be due to some updating google is doing on datacenters as now I am getting a completely different set of SERPs for website competition, as compared to a couple of hours ago, though they are the same both using the US proxy and without : 1.www.thinkquest.org 2.www.webcompetition.net 3.www.edsnet.na/InformED/InformED.htm 4.www.learntoquestion.com/seevak/ 5.2005.sxsw.com/interactive/web_awards/ 6.twopagans.com/mystickalrealms/main.html 7.www.bckorea.or.kr/english/ science/website_competition.htm 8.build-website.com/tools/competitors.html 9.www.cyberport.com.hk/article/ cp_rentalinfo_en/cpa_00114_en.html 10. www.cyberport.com.hk/article/ cp_lease_en/cpa_00101_en.html
Despite all the useful suggestions and information (thank you everybody) I am actually still no further forward in my quest to find American competition portals. I find it hard to believe that there are no competition portals out there in the USA. In the UK we have loads. I'm looking for US equivalents of http://www.theprizefinder.com Surely there must be something like that out there. Does anybody know of any sites like this? (Sorry I've gone a bit off-Google-topic here but the situation has kind of evolved...)
Hi remember me? Hehehe ... Oh god I'm trivial sometimes! To add weight to what I said earlier and to take you out of your misery [really emphasising what Mel says in a way] here are some results: KWT shows me on a search phrase "ski chalets france" at #4 Searching on Google from the UK shows me at #20 So where am I ? McDars Tool http://www.mcdar.net/dance/index.php on the www (akadns) has me respectively #16,5,16,16, etc (new) #16 98 #16 104 #16,5,16 etc 99 #16 105 #16 102 - 147 #16 so you can see that these results are coming NOT from the UK ie from where I am sitting Perhaps you should try a Wordtracker trial and get some different ways of asking the phrase Good Luck
G via US proxy results set to 10 #20 set to 100 #25 G (uk) via US proxy sorry no find presently But who needs Google you're #1 on Yahoo.com and uk.yahoo Shawns tool is great but should only be used indicative. I have huge reservations about geo targeting done by G as except for mobile triangulation noone knows where I'm actually located. Even people using my hotspot in front of my house show up as Virginia US M
get a kick in the arse! Hehehe I totally agree with your reservations on geo targeting. BTW #1 on the beta msn as well
Google generally makes use of geographical location to retrieve results. But i still have found this below that would also be of your help if required. http://www.google.com/search?q=banks&gl=uk The above url link should retrieve "banks" in UK You will just have to remove the "gf=us" at the end to "gf=????" Instead of ???? you can place your country location codes for other countries.... Hope this helps as i have been using them for some time now ..