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User profile for user: dustda01
dustda01 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

why is google search using .com and not .ca?

I've been wondering this for a while now. I always thought when using the Google search-bar in Safari that the local used would be according to the IP address. However, I've now confirmed that my iPod Touch at home will use Google Canada, yet Safari on my Macbook will use Google.com and thus show me slightly different results. I want it to use google.ca and not .com - how can I change this?


I did report my IP address to Google as a Canadian address using their form but now that I've seen my iPod Touch use Google Canada I don't know if that was ever the problem. I feel like this is simply a setting hard-coded somewhere in Safari on my Macbook, but can't be sure. Your thoughts? Anyone else having this same issue of the Google search-bar in Safari (the native one) using a different country than you live in?


Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! Thanks. 🙂

Macbook @ 2.4GHz, Mac OS X (10.6.7)

Posted on Apr 25, 2011 6:48 AM

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User profile for user: Klaus1
Klaus1
User level: Level 9
52,749 points

Posted on Apr 25, 2011 7:45 AM

If you want to fix your Google search to a specific Google location, I recommend that you download and install the free plug-in Glims:


http://www.machangout.com/


which not only does that but much more equally useful stuff! Such as enabling Safari to run full-screen, and more.)


(It adds items to Safari Preferences).


Not only does it already list a number of search engines and regions, but you can also add any other search engine not already listed in Glims by using the method described here:


http://www.machangout.com/tutorials/addsearchengine


Just enter the name you give the search engine in the name field, and the URL for it in the Query URL field.

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User profile for user: Klaus1
Klaus1
User level: Level 9
52,749 points

Apr 25, 2011 7:45 AM in response to dustda01

If you want to fix your Google search to a specific Google location, I recommend that you download and install the free plug-in Glims:


http://www.machangout.com/


which not only does that but much more equally useful stuff! Such as enabling Safari to run full-screen, and more.)


(It adds items to Safari Preferences).


Not only does it already list a number of search engines and regions, but you can also add any other search engine not already listed in Glims by using the method described here:


http://www.machangout.com/tutorials/addsearchengine


Just enter the name you give the search engine in the name field, and the URL for it in the Query URL field.

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User profile for user: dustda01
dustda01 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

Apr 25, 2011 6:24 PM in response to Klaus1

Thank you for the helpful answer Klaus1, but I'd rather get to the root of the issue rather than masking it, you know? I'm an IT Systems Administrator so finding root causes rather than band-aids is sort of my job and part of my OCD haha but with Macs I'm not as familiar with so finding a root cause is more difficult for me.


Any ideas what would be the reason this happens in the first place? Does anyone know why in the same household on the same wifi network with the same WAN IP address, why an iPod Touch would use google.ca and yet the Macbook with Safari would use google.com for search results coming from the search bar built-in to the Safari application?


I kind of remember noticing this happening after the 5.0.4 update, and now I'm on to 5.0.5 and still seeing this strange behaviour. Not sure if it was just a

coincidence or not, but maybe it had to do with that 5.0.4 update?


Also, today I checked to see if for some reason it was affected by my Macbooks System Preferences, such as the location or localization. But under Time and the Time Zone it shows Vancouver Canada, and then the localizations it shows Canada as the Format and Canadian English under Languages, etc. Nowhere do I see why it should use google.com as the search engine rather than google.ca.


Once we know the why, we should be able to resolve this issue. Any further help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

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User profile for user: dustda01
dustda01 Author
User level: Level 1
25 points

May 8, 2011 8:27 PM in response to Edson.ajj

See that's what I thought too, that it's all based on IP, but I don't think that's the case. Because at home, we have one ISP, one IP address, one modem, one router. My Macbook will for some reason use google.com instead of google.ca as it should since I'm in Canada. Now if Google thought that's an American IP address, fair enough, but then why would my iPod Touch use google.ca as expected? The difference I see in this case is hardware/software, not a networking issue or misunderstanding of IP address geo-location by Google.


Oh, and yes I've tried resetting Safari but nothing seems to make a difference. I'm still stumped.

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User profile for user: Bubbelz
Bubbelz
User level: Level 1
19 points

May 8, 2011 9:57 PM in response to dustda01

It always uses .com, no matter where you are. It probably gives Mexicans .com.mx because there is no .mx (at least that's the most logical reason). My local website is google.nl, but of course, that's not .com.nl so it doesn't automatically bring me there.



http://www.marketingtechblog.com/technology/change-default-search-engine-safari- mac/

^ This guy used an application to manage his search engines, I'm guessing you can also add the Canadian Google this way.

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why is google search using .com and not .ca?

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