How to Check Google Rankings in Another Country (Without the VPN Guesswork)

To check Google rankings in another country, you have to get Google to treat you as a searcher in that country, and that is harder than typing google.de or switching on a VPN. Google decides what you see from where it thinks you are, the language you use and how your search settings are set. Most hand checks get at least one of those wrong, which is why a country-level Google rank check is the more reliable route when the numbers matter.

Below: why country domains stopped working as a shortcut, what a VPN changes and what it doesn’t, a manual check that is as fair as a hand check can be, and when a set-country report is worth paying for.

Why typing google.de no longer shows you German results

For years, SEOs checked another country by visiting its Google domain. That shortcut is gone. In a post on Google’s update to country code domains, dated 15 April 2025, Google says that in 2017 it began providing the same experience with local results for everyone, whether they used google.com or their local country domain. In the same post it announced that it would begin redirecting traffic from those country domains to google.com, rolled out gradually, and that the change “won’t affect the way Search works”.

In practice, the results you see depend on where Google thinks you are and on your Search settings, not on the address in your browser. So when a rank report names a Google edition such as google.de, look for the country the results were checked for. Each engine label in our public sample report names the country next to the edition, for example “Google.co.uk · United Kingdom · national”.

What a VPN changes, and what it doesn’t

Google’s help page on how it determines your location when you search lists four sources. A VPN replaces one of them.

• IP address. Google describes it as roughly based on geography. This is the only signal a VPN changes.
• Device location. If you have let google.com use your location, your device can tell Google where you really are, and that location can be precise.
• Home and work addresses. When you are signed in, Google can use the addresses saved in your account when it’s likely you are at one of them.
• Past activity. Your activity can include the general area you searched from. Signed-out users can turn off Search customization so previous searches are not used to estimate location.

The same page adds that google.com may reuse your device’s last known location, stored in a cookie that expires after 6 hours. A private window helps with the account signals, because it starts signed out, but the device location and the settings still need your attention.

A VPN changes where your connection comes from. It doesn’t change everything else Google knows about where you are.

Language and region: the settings people forget

Location is only half of it. Google’s page on how results relate to your search says that in the Google Search settings, helpful results match your language and region, and that Google may still show helpful results in other languages or from other regions. It adds that you can change both in your Search settings.

For a fair check that means three things:

• Set the region to the target country.
• Set the language to the one people there search in.
• Type the keyword the way local searchers do. An illustration: a German searcher looking for a dentist in Munich types “Zahnarzt München”, not “dentist Munich”. Check the German words.

Countries with more than one language need one check per language you target.

How to check Google rankings in another country by hand

This is the fairest manual method I know. It takes a few minutes to set up, then one search per keyword per device.

1. Connect your VPN to a server in the target country.
2. Open a new private window, so you search signed out.
3. In that window, block location access for google.com in your browser’s site settings, so your device can’t report where you really are.
4. Open Google’s Search settings and set the region to the target country and the language to the local one.
5. Search the keyword in the local language, word for word as it appears in your list.
6. If Google shows your location as your own city, something is still leaking. Fix it before you go on.
7. Count organic results from the top, skipping ads, and note the date, time, device and position. Repeat on a phone for mobile.

Even done well, it has limits. Your VPN may have no server in the city you care about, so a city-level check is guesswork. Each search is one moment, and results change through the day. And it scales badly. An illustration: 50 keywords on desktop and mobile in three countries is 300 searches, each with the setup above.

When a set-country report is worth paying for

A report doesn’t try to imitate a person abroad. Our pay-per-check rank reports use a live check through a Google results API for the Google edition you choose: one query per keyword per engine, with desktop and mobile as separate queries and no Google account or search history behind them. A city, for example Google results as seen in Manchester, is added as an extra engine and checked from a point inside that city, not from a national average.

Four Google engines are included in every order: your chosen Google edition on desktop and mobile, plus google.com on desktop and mobile. US buyers get google.com plus one more edition of their choice. Each further country or city is one extra engine, with desktop and mobile included:

Three worked examples at list prices, per check, before VAT:

• A German shop selling into Austria and Switzerland, 100 keywords at top 30: google.de and google.com are included, then Austria, Switzerland and Munich are three extra engines. $14.99 + 3 × $2.99 = $23.96.
• A US software company that also sells in Canada, 200 keywords at top 30: google.com and google.ca are both included. $24.99.
• A UK firm adding Manchester, 300 keywords at top 60: $44.99 + $14.99 = $59.98.

Send the keywords in the language people search in there: the check runs the exact words you send.

Why it matters is easy to see in the sample. On desktop, “hotel guest messaging” ranked 7th in the UK and 17th in the US. “advanced channel manager” was not in the UK top 30 but 17th in the US, and “OTA channel sync guide” was 5th in the UK and outside the US top 30. A site that only checks its home country sees half the picture.

A VPN check or a report?

A careful VPN check is enough for one or two keywords, one country and one device, for example a quick look before a call. It is not enough for a client report, for more than a handful of keywords, for several countries or cities, for both devices, or for a baseline you want to compare with next month. For the reasons hand checks disagree even at home, see our article on why your Google rankings look different on every screen; for checks below country level, see city rank tracking.

If you would rather have someone read the report and turn it into actions every month, our SEO rank tracking service does that. If you only need the numbers, you can order a rank check for the countries you sell to, with up to 400 keywords per check.

FAQ

Can I see Google search results from a different location?

Partly. You can set the region in Google’s Search settings, and Google’s help also suggests adding a place name to your search, although that changes the keyword you are checking. For a true view from another country, every location signal has to agree: your IP address, your device location and your account.

Does a VPN change my Google search results?

It changes your IP address, which is one of the sources Google uses to estimate your location. It does not change your device’s location permission, the addresses in your Google account, your past activity or your language and region settings, so on its own it can give you a mixed picture.

Does google.co.uk still show UK results?

The country you get no longer depends on the domain you type. Google says that since 2017 everyone has had the same local results whether they use google.com or a country domain, and in April 2025 it announced it would redirect country domains to google.com. You see UK results when Google places you in the UK, or when you set the region to the UK in your Search settings.

How do I check rankings in a specific city?

By hand, you have to search from that city, and a VPN may have no server there. A rank check adds the city as an extra engine and checks it from a point inside the city, on desktop and mobile.

How much does it cost to add another country to a rank check?

From $2.99 per engine per check for up to 100 keywords at top 30, up to $19.99 for 400 keywords at top 60. Each extra engine covers desktop and mobile, and prices exclude VAT.