How to use the Google location changer
- Type your search words, like pizza near me or plumber.
- Pick the country. The tool sets the country code (
gl) and the language most people there search in (hl). Change the language if you need another. - Type a city or state and pick it from the list. Leave the box empty to search the whole country.
- Click Open in Google. The results open in a new tab.
- Check the place. Scroll to the bottom of the results. Google shows the location it used there.
Use a private window, so your own search history does not mix in. Copy link saves the Google search. Share these settings copies a link to this page with your choices filled in.
How does Google decide where you are?
Google's help page lists four signals. For each search it uses the one it trusts most:
- Device location. The GPS or Wi-Fi location of your phone or computer, if you allow it.
- Home and work. The addresses saved in your Google Account.
- Past activity. Places you searched for before.
- IP address. A rough guess from your internet connection.
A search link can also carry its own location. These are the parts this tool sets:
| Parameter | What it does | Documented by Google? |
|---|---|---|
uule | Names an exact place, such as a city. Google then searches from there, not from your IP address. | No |
gl | Sets the country. Google says it boosts results from that country. | Yes, for its Custom Search API |
hl | Sets the language of Google's menus and buttons. | Yes, for its Custom Search API |
near | Gives the city name as plain text. | No |
Google has never documented uule, so it can change how it reads it at any time. That is why
we test it, as shown below. For other codes you can add to a search link, see our list of
Google search parameters.
How is a uule code built?
A uule value is a place name in code. The tool takes Google's exact name for the place and adds a short
header that holds the length of the name. Then it turns it all into base64 text and puts w+ in front.
Here is Denver:
| Part | Denver value | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Prefix | w+ | Marks a uule that holds a place name |
| Header | CAIQICI | The same for every place |
| Length | d | The name has 29 characters |
| Name | RGVudmVyLENvbG9yYWRvLFVuaXRlZCBTdGF0ZXM= | Denver,Colorado,United States in base64 |
This is the same location encoding our SERP API crawler uses. Our test file runs every place
in this tool through the crawler's own code and gets the same value, byte for byte. For names under 62
characters, the result also matches the popular recipe of w+CAIQICI plus a length letter. Our
method also works for longer names. Some tools drop the = signs at the end. Google read our
Denver value both with and without them.
Names must match Google's list letter for letter. Manchester in England is
Manchester,Manchester,England,United Kingdom, not Manchester,England,United Kingdom.
The tool knows 847 cities and 334 states and provinces, copied from Google's geo targets file dated
October 6, 2026. For any other place, type its full name from that file, with commas and no spaces after them.
There is a second kind of uule. It starts with a+ and holds a map point instead of a name. Our
crawler does not use it, and we could not test our own version, so the tool does not build it. The decoder in
the developer view can still read one.
Does a uule link work? Our November 2026 test
On November 11, 2026, we sent links made by this tool to
DataForSEO's live SERP API.
It takes a full Google URL and fetches the page from its own servers. It passed our uule to
Google unchanged. These are the desktop results:
| Search and place | Top 3 in the map pack | Web results |
|---|---|---|
| pizza near me, Denver | Gattara, Little Johnny B's, Brooklyn's Finest Pizza, all in central Denver | Mostly pages about other towns |
| pizza near me, Miami | CRAFT Brickell, PIZZACINI, Casa Tua Cucina Brickell, all in Miami | Miami pages from Yelp, Uber Eats and Tripadvisor |
| plumber, Manchester (UK) | JB7 Plumbing and Heating, 24/7 Rapid Fix Plumbing, Pipeworks Manchester | Pages for nearby towns, like Wigan and Burnley |
| pizza near me, whole United States | Three shops in small Colorado towns | A mix of US cities |
Three things stand out:
- The map pack followed the place every time. We ran 8 checks with a city, on desktop and mobile. Each time, the map pack listed businesses in that city.
- Web results did not always follow. For Denver they listed other towns. When DataForSEO pinned Denver its own way, with a Google Maps place ID, the web results were Denver pages. For Manchester, its own targeting gave the same page as our link.
- A whole country put us near its middle. With only "United States" in the uule, the map pack showed small towns in Colorado.
So trust the map pack the most. For web rankings in one city, check with a second method, like the browser location override, before you report them.
What can't a search link change?
- Your account and device. If you are signed in, or your browser shares your location, Google may use those instead. A private window with location access blocked works best.
- Mobile or desktop. No URL parameter sets the device. Open Chrome's device mode, pick a phone, and reload the results. Here is why mobile and desktop rankings differ.
- Results per page. Google stopped honoring
num=100in September 2025. A page shows about 10 results, so addstart=10for page 2. - Country domains. In April 2025, Google began sending country sites like google.co.uk to
google.com. So the tool always uses google.com and sets the country with
gl.
Should you use a VPN or a location changer?
A VPN changes your IP address. Google then guesses your city from it, which is usually the city of the VPN server, not one you picked. VPN addresses are shared by many users, which can trigger Google's unusual traffic check. A uule link picks the exact city and needs no software.
| You want to | Use |
|---|---|
| See the results and map pack for a city | This tool |
| Reach a site that is blocked where you are | A VPN |
| Stand on one exact street corner | Your browser's location override |
| Check many keywords in many cities each week | A SERP API |
Our guide on how to change your Google search location shows the browser override step by step.
How to check local rankings at scale
Opening links works for a handful of searches. For dozens of keywords in many cities, a SERP API with city targeting does the same job and returns the results as data. You send the keyword and a Google geo target ID, the number this tool shows in the developer view. Denver is 1014485. Our guide on checking local rankings for any city shows a full request.