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Google Uses Same Search Algo Worldwide But Have Country & Language Boosts

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google algo worldwideSome SEOs have wondered whether Google has different variations of their core search ranking algorithm depending on what country the searcher was searching from. Spam is certainly more prevalent in some languages and countries more than others. But does Google have special variations targeting different countries?

Google uses the same search algorithm throughout the world, according to Gary Illyes from Google, so there are not special algos for special countries or languages. However, Google does have additional signals that do come into play after the main algo that do, in fact, have to do with location and languages.

After the algo, then Google will apply a country boost and a language boost to the search results. This is why when I search from Canada, I see sites skewed a bit towards Canadian sites while someone searching from the UK would see more UK-centric sites in the search results.

Likewise, this also ensures that someone searching in English sees English results while someone searching in French or Japanese would see results in those languages first.

I asked Gary Illyes for clarification on how exactly the country and language boosts get applied to sites, for obvious reasons. He said the country and language boosts are applied on a page level, not as a site-wide boost.

With the boost on a page level, there would be no advantage for an international SEO plan that would call for multiple domains as the preferred choice over a same domain implementation.

So if you have ever wondered whether Google might have different algos for different places, the answer is no, everybody gets the same algorithm, just with language and country boosts after the fact.

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Jennifer Slegg

Founder & Editor at The SEM Post
Jennifer Slegg is a longtime speaker and expert in search engine marketing, working in the industry for almost 20 years. When she isn't sitting at her desk writing and working, she can be found grabbing a latte at her local Starbucks or planning her next trip to Disneyland. She regularly speaks at Pubcon, SMX, State of Search, Brighton SEO and more, and has been presenting at conferences for over a decade.

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