Google's locale detection broke

[jawn_tech]

I have Google set as my homepage. It's nice and quick to open. Either I'm searching first thing, or going to one of 'my favorites'.

Well, that may change soon as I can't read Google anymore. Suddenly I'm getting Google.ae, the United Arab Emirates version. Problem is, I'm in Pennsylvania, USA. My DSL provider is less than a mile down the street. Anywhere on the net that I check my IP shows the proper location of being in this region of the states.

Though my preferences show my homepage is set to Google.com, and even when I type in Google.com in my browser, Google now quickly redirects me to Google.ae, in an apparent perception that my IP is far yonder from here. I've been hearing about others noticing being redirected from Google.com to the version of their own locale, but I haven't heard of instances such as this.

I've written to Google about this and am awaiting a response. Meanwhile, if anyone has suggestions, I'm all eyes. Until then, I either need to brush up on reading Arabic, or find another SE in my language.

[cbp]

I have seen a number of reports of this happening ... must be a bug at G that needs fixing.

CBP

[activeco]

Check your proxy settings.

[activeco]

Also, clear your cookies.
If you lately used proxy or different G toolbar address, the Google cookie is still there.
The order of their geo-targeting results is something like this:

* cookie
* IP address
* your Google preferences
* your Google toolbar settings

[jawn_tech]

Thanks.... I double checked all the above, and still unchanged. Still getting google in arabic. Hmm... This has given me some interesting research.

[freehits]

I have just fought back a steamy pile of sarcasms on this post, I will let political correctness override my views on world affairs this one time.


And with all the talk of googles' relevence in searches, the fact that they even came up with the wrong results for their own URL does not fill me with optimism for the shareholders.

[activeco]

Originally Posted by jawn_tech

Thanks.... I double checked all the above, and still unchanged. Still getting google in arabic. Hmm... This has given me some interesting research.

Have you tried USING proxy with an U.S. address (after clearing cookies)?
If everything OK, switch back and see what happens.

[jawn_tech]

Hi Jawn,

Thank you for your note. As you've discovered, Google normally redirects
users in countries other than the United States from Google.com to one of
our country-specific sites (e.g. Google.fr for Google France). We use your
computer's IP address, which is frequently the internet address of your
Internet Service Provider (ISP), to determine your location and the
corresponding Google domain.

If you feel that Google is incorrectly detecting your location, please
visit http://services.google.com/georeport/ to report the error. We will
correct the problem as soon as possible if we are able to do so.

In the meantime, you can avoid this redirect and visit Google.com instead.
To do so, click on the 'Google.com' link on the bottom right-hand side of
the page. If you have cookies enabled, you'll only have to do this once;
your browser will connect directly to www.google.com on all subsequent
visits. For more information on cookies, please visit
http://www.google.com/cookies.html and http://www.google.com/privacy.html

If cookies are disabled, you'll experience the same redirect each time you
visit Google. You can solve this either by enabling cookies or setting a
bookmark for http://www.google.com/webhp. In the latter case, you'll be
taken to http://www.google.com/webhp (this is exactly the same as
www.google.com) each time you select the bookmark.

We apologize for any inconvenience this process may cause you. If we can
assist you further, please let us know.

Regards,
The Google Team