Google's GeoIP detection massively screwed up

**Mike-XS** · 12 February, 2011, 21:26 PM

Has anyone else noticed lately that Google's GeoIP detection has become totally screwed up recently or is it just me ?

I have been testing proxies on different servers and they are forcibly redirecting me to use wrong countries like spain (google.es) on one server and poland (google.pl) on another server, when the IP range for both is clearly based in the usa. This affects google.com and youtube.com so far.

I looked though the various google support docs and they say it will take a month to fix the problem if I report it, which is a total joke. How can they be that lazy ?

**vectro** · 13 February, 2011, 06:47 AM

This problem is on again off again on my servers. Sometimes one server ends up at the wrong country while the rest are correct. Sometimes none of the servers have the problem. The issue usually corrects itself over time. It's not typical. Traffic redirects properly most of the time.

Originally Posted by Mike-XS

How can they be that lazy ?

Or just busy.

**UncleP** · 13 February, 2011, 10:22 AM

You can force google and youtube to use the US versions of the sites if you use the right shortcuts, I use it on UK hosted proxies myself.

Google:

Code:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3Lmdvb2dsZS5jb20vaW50bC9lbi8%3D&b=5&f=norefer

YouTube:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/index?gl=US
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL2luZGV4P2dsPVVT&b=5&f=norefer

It's not ideal perhaps but it does work and it doesn't matter what country the proxy's hosted in. I can't help you with MySpace or Facebook tho', there may be similar for those too.

**Mike-XS** · 13 February, 2011, 17:37 PM

Thanks Uncle P, I'll try that.

Originally Posted by vectro

Or just busy.

Yep, maybe too busy worrying about Bing giving more relevant search results and all the malware hijacks coming through google images.

**tibbie** · 14 February, 2011, 01:45 AM

Originally Posted by Mike-XS

Has anyone else noticed lately that Google's GeoIP detection has become totally screwed up recently or is it just me ?

I have been testing proxies on different servers and they are forcibly redirecting me to use wrong countries like spain (google.es) on one server and poland (google.pl) on another server, when the IP range for both is clearly based in the usa. This affects google.com and youtube.com so far.

I looked though the various google support docs and they say it will take a month to fix the problem if I report it, which is a total joke. How can they be that lazy ?

Your post has made my day - I thought it might be just me. When I go to the proxified page, Google thinks server is in Hong Kong!

**CyberTroop** · 16 February, 2011, 00:13 AM

Ya, google sends my US-based proxy sites to Italy. lol

Originally Posted by Mike-XS

Yep, maybe too busy worrying about Bing giving more relevant search results and all the malware hijacks coming through google images.

Or they are just busy trying to stop Bing from stealing their search results.
Microsoft says Google used click fraud to orchestrate Bing Sting - USATODAY.com

**Mike-XS** · 16 February, 2011, 04:35 AM

Once a week Microsoft and Google should both get together to chill out and play a board game like Monopoly.

**tibbie** · 17 February, 2011, 02:00 AM

Originally Posted by UncleP

You can force google and youtube to use the US versions of the sites if you use the right shortcuts, I use it on UK hosted proxies myself.

Google:

Code:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3Lmdvb2dsZS5jb20vaW50bC9lbi8%3D&b=5&f=norefer

YouTube:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/index?gl=US
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL2luZGV4P2dsPVVT&b=5&f=norefer

It's not ideal perhaps but it does work and it doesn't matter what country the proxy's hosted in. I can't help you with MySpace or Facebook tho', there may be similar for those too.

Umm, what sort of shortcuts? If I place say Google into the front page search field, that has changed to Hong Kong as soon as they are in the proxified page....what have I missed?

**UncleP** · 17 February, 2011, 08:34 AM

Originally Posted by tibbie

Originally Posted by UncleP

You can force google and youtube to use the US versions of the sites if you use the right shortcuts, I use it on UK hosted proxies myself.

Google:

Code:

http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3Lmdvb2dsZS5jb20vaW50bC9lbi8%3D&b=5&f=norefer

YouTube:

Code:

http://www.youtube.com/index?gl=US
 
(proxied: /browse.php?u=Oi8vd3d3LnlvdXR1YmUuY29tL2luZGV4P2dsPVVT&b=5&f=norefer

It's not ideal perhaps but it does work and it doesn't matter what country the proxy's hosted in. I can't help you with MySpace or Facebook tho', there may be similar for those too.

Umm, what sort of shortcuts? If I place say Google into the front page search field, that has changed to Hong Kong as soon as they are in the proxified page....what have I missed?

Looks like they've changed it then

, I copied that from the 'Go to Google.com' on the home page originally, now it says 'http://www.google.com/ncr' instead. I'm going to have to change all my links now, try that one and see if it's any better, it works OK for me.

I don't have the quite same problem here, my google.com goes to the dot com on US hosted proxies but the url bar is hidden by the option links, so they must be forcing an absolute not relative in the css, if I use the .../webhp?hl=en then it's not hidden. On the UK hosted proxies it goes to google.ca (Canada) by default but nothing's hidden, the .../ncr and .../webhp?hl=en both take me to the dot com with a 'Go to Google.ca' link.

I think they just want to mess with our heads and have us all talk about it, so they can have their name plastered all over the web and increase their own serps. They must be worried about the competition, lol.