See Google the way a searcher somewhere else does
Google tailors results to where the searcher is. A search for "dentist near me" in Dubai Marina returns different clinics from the same search in Deira, and a page that ranks third in London can be nowhere in Manchester. From your own desk you only ever see your own results. This tool builds a Google search link with a different location set, so you can check rankings, the map pack and ads as someone in another area, city or country sees them.
How to use it
- Type the search term you want to check, exactly as a customer would type it.
- Pick a location. Start typing a city or UAE area and choose it from the list, or paste coordinates (such as
25.0805, 55.1403) or a Google Maps link for any other spot. - Check the country and language. Picking a place sets both. In the UAE you can switch between English and Arabic.
- Click Search Google. The results open in a new tab. Add a second location to compare two places side by side.
How Google decides where you are
Google works out a searcher's location from the device's precise location when it is shared, from the IP address of the connection, which is roughly based on geography, and from past activity saved in a signed-in Google account. The footer of every results page says which one it used. That is why two people searching the same words can see different results. Google Search settings let you change the results region, but only to a country. For a single city or neighbourhood you need the location in the link itself, which is what this tool writes.
What the link contains
| Parameter | What it does | Example |
|---|---|---|
| q | The search term | q=dentist+near+me |
| gl | The country the results are for | gl=ae |
| hl | The language of Google's interface | hl=en or hl=ar |
| uule | The searcher's location, as encoded coordinates | uule=a+cm9sZTog... |
| pws | pws=0 asks Google not to personalise the results | pws=0 |
| adtest | Phone mode only: Google's ad-preview switch, with adtest-useragent naming the phone | adtest=on |
The link also goes to the country's own Google domain, such as google.ae or google.co.uk, which matches what local searchers use.
UULE codes explained
The uule value comes in two forms. The older one starts with w+CAIQICI, followed by a letter that gives the length of a place name and then that name in base64. The name has to be a "canonical name" from Google Ads' list of geo targets, such as Dubai,Dubai,United Arab Emirates, so it only works for places on the list.
The form this tool uses starts with a+, followed by the base64 of a short record with a latitude and longitude in units of a ten-millionth of a degree. Because it carries coordinates, it works for any point: a neighbourhood, a street, or the car park outside your shop. Open "Show the link and UULE code" under any result to copy the code on its own, for example for a rank tracker that accepts one.
Local SEO checks worth running
- Near me searches across areas. Compare the map pack for your main service in two or three areas you serve. If you appear in one and not the next, distance from the searcher is the likely reason, and that is a cue for a page or Google Business Profile work in that area.
- English versus Arabic. In the UAE and the Gulf, run the same search with the language set to Arabic. Results and competitors are often different.
- Your competitors' home turf. Set the location to a competitor's address and see how strongly they rank there compared with you.
- Before a launch abroad. Check who ranks for your keywords in the new country, in its language, before you write the pages.
Limits to know
- Close, not identical. The map pack follows the location very closely, but ordinary results can still move with your sign-in, history and Google's experiments. A private window gives the cleanest view.
- Undocumented parameters. Google does not document uule or the adtest settings for normal results, so they could change without notice. The tool was last checked on 5 November 2026: a search set to central London returned map results within 0.3 miles of Trafalgar Square.
- Phone layout. Phone mode asks Google for a phone result, but your browser still shows the page. For a true phone layout, use your browser's device mode as well.
- Too many searches in a row can make Google ask you to prove you are not a robot. That is Google's rate limit on your connection, not a fault in the link.
Sources
- Google Search Help: understand and manage your location, why your results differ from others and see results for a different country
- Google's country (gl) and interface language (hl) codes
- Google Ads API geo targets, the canonical names the older UULE form uses
- Google Search Central: managing multi-regional and multilingual sites
- Chrome DevTools device mode
Related tools
Check that Google may crawl the page you want to rank with the robots.txt tester, see which AI search bots can reach your site with the AI crawler checker, and find out how often Googlebot really visits with the server log analyzer.