I'm wondering if anyone can explain why I'm seeing a significant difference between the SERPS if I choose "the web" and those that turn up if I click on "pages from Canada". In particular, I'm wondering if it has something to do with "the Local" aspect of things that Google have been talking about of late. And even more, is there anything I could/should do to improve what used to be what I suppose you could call an enviable web presence and what now amounts, in effect, to a decided (and perhaps worrying) deterioration? Let me make things a bit clearer as follows: 1. For some length of time, I've seen this sort of result: whenever I chose "pages in Canada" for a variety of search phrases that read (without the quotes) "real estate in such and such a place" 2. For the past week or so, however, the results appear only if I choose "the web". 3. At the same time, the Canadian pages results appear to be highly focused on some twenty or so real estate colleagues who have hitherto been seen only sporadically, if at all. Moreover, as far as I've been able to tell, I'm now nowhere to be found in at least the first ten Canadian pages or indeed in any of the subsequent ones. 4. At first, I suspected an algo tweak -- and there were reports/mutterings of one throughout September, weren't there? -- but, having just now checked things out, I've discovered that my web presence hasn't altered as dramatically as I thought. Instead, it appears to have moved -- although I must confess that I've tended to always go the Canadian pages route and only very occasionally double checked the web SERPs. 5. So far, I've seen no reduction in visitors to my site, although it's perhaps too early to tell. I also run AdWords for my several "such and such" places and these show regardless of my "web" or "Canada" choice. Nevertheless, it's all something of a puzzlement, isn't it? In addition, I'm far from sure how I can "get back" on the Canadian pages, even assuming it's possible. On this point, I think I'm correct in saying that Google is keen to come up with "local results," but I don't think this envisages anything in the way of submitting or drawing attention to my site for this purpose. Indeed, in that I'm unquestionably already (well) indexed by Google, it would seem a pointless exercise. But if nothing else, my curiosity is certainly aroused. Thus, if anyone has any thoughts, ideas, or suggestions, I'd greatly appreciate hearing about them? Duncan
I do believe that this is what it comes down to here. An assumption being made by the search engine...
Agreed. I think the search engine has to make an educated guess as to if your page is from Canada, probably using the IP where it is hosted, if the domain is .ca, and maybe some triggers from the content of your page. I don't know how easy it is to get back in. Personally if I was in that situation I would try common things like adding "Made in Canada" or "This site is canadian" to see if you can trigger some of those flags. It's a shot in the dark, but you never know. As with all page updates, you'd probably have to wait at least a month before seeing any actual results in the SERPs from those changes.
The ads Google shows me are geotargeted based on my IP address. I'd assume it uses the same technology to determine where your server is. Even though my business is located in Canada, the hosting reseller is located in Canada, the actual server is in the US datacenter... and because of that, the site does not show up in the "web pages from Canada." Then I have another site that is hosted in the UK... it does very well in MSN.co.uk (top 5) but not nearly as well in MSN.com (top 50). It has nothing to do with the United Kingdom in it's topic, but it gets the ranking because of it's hosting location.