Why Your Google Rankings Look Different Abroad

You are on holiday, you search for your own service on your phone, and your business has gone.

Your website is nowhere, and your Google Maps listing has been replaced by firms you have never heard of. It feels awful, but in most cases nothing has changed at home.

Google shows results for where it thinks you are. Abroad, that is a different town, and sometimes a different country. This guide explains why it happens and how a travel eSIM can make it worse. It also shows you how to check where you really rank.

The quick answer: your rankings probably haven't moved

Your rankings at home are almost certainly the same as when you left. Google bases results on where the searcher is. A travel eSIM can make Google think you are in another country. To see your real position, use the Performance report in Google Search Console, filtered to the UK. One search on your phone abroad tells you nothing about what customers at home see.

How Google decides where you are searching from

Google uses up to four clues to guess where you are. It uses them together, and some are far more exact than others.

• Your phone's location. This is the most exact clue. Google only gets it if you allow it.
• Home and work addresses that you have saved in your Google account.
• Past searches. If you looked for cafés in Seville, Google may guess your next search is about Seville too.
• Your internet address (IP address). Every connection has one. It gives Google a rough area, not an exact spot.

Google explains these clues in its own help page on how it works out your location. Where you are also decides which country's version of Google you get. Typing google.co.uk no longer changes that, and has not since 2017.

Google also tells you which clue it used. Scroll to the bottom of any results page. You will see a short note, such as "From your device" or "From your internet address".

Why a travel eSIM can put you in the wrong country

A travel eSIM joins a local mobile network, but your data does not always reach the internet in that country. Many providers pass it through a partner hub first. Holafly calls this home-routed roaming. Yesim says some of its eSIMs send traffic through countries where it has network hubs.

Think of it like a letter. You post it in Lisbon, but it goes through a sorting office in Amsterdam. Anyone who reads the postmark thinks it came from Amsterdam. Websites read your internet address in the same way.

So if Google cannot see your phone's location, it reads the "postmark" and shows you results for the hub country. Your business serves customers in the UK, so it was never going to show up there. A VPN does the same, as it gives you an internet address in the country where its server sits.

This is normal, and it does not mean your eSIM is faulty. If you are choosing an affordable international eSIM for a trip, mesim lets you compare the data, price and network details of each plan before you buy.

Local results follow the searcher, not your business

This is not only a travel problem. Google ranks local results partly on distance, which it works out from where the searcher is. Google lists distance as one of the three main factors in its guide to how local ranking works, alongside relevance and prominence.

That means someone near your office can see a different map pack to someone across town. A search from your own desk only ever shows one view of your rankings. Our guide to how location affects your visibility on Google Maps explains this in more detail.

Check your real Google rankings from anywhere

These three methods show what customers at home see, wherever you are.

1. Google Search Console. Open the Performance report. Filter it to the United Kingdom and the search you care about, then check average position. It is based on real searches by real customers, not one search from your phone.
2. The Google Ads preview tool. If you run adverts, use the Ad Preview and Diagnosis tool. You pick the place and language. It does not count as a view of your advert. Google warns that if you keep searching for your own advert and never click it, you may stop seeing it.
3. A local rank tracker. These tools check your position from lots of points across your area at once. You see how you rank street by street. We use Local Falcon for this in our clients' monthly reports.

Getting local results on your phone while you travel

Sometimes you need local results for yourself, such as a chemist or a train station. Most of the fix is letting Google see where you really are.

1. Turn on location. On an iPhone, go to Settings, then Privacy & Security, then Location Services. On Android, go to Settings, then Location. Then allow location for the Google app, Chrome or Safari.
2. Name the place in your search. Type "chemist in Alfama" in place of "chemist near me". This works even with location off.
3. Check the note at the bottom. It should now say "From your device". If it still says "From your internet address", Google is still guessing.
4. Reload after you land. Google may reuse your last known phone location for up to six hours. If you have just flown in, reload the page so it picks up where you are now.

Signs a ranking drop is real

A real drop shows up in more than one place, and over more than one day. In Search Console, your average position for a key search falls in the UK over two weeks or more. Clicks and calls fall at the same time. A rank tracker shows the same slide from several points across your area.

If you see those signs together, it is worth looking deeper, starting with any recent Google update. Our guide on what to do after a Google core update walks you through it. If your business is missing at home too, read why your business isn't showing on Google and how to fix it.

Questions business owners ask about rankings abroad

Does a VPN change my Google results?

Yes, it can. A VPN gives you an internet address in the country of the server you pick. Google can use that address to guess your location. Turn it off, or set it to the UK, before you check anything.

Does an incognito window show my true rankings?

Not on its own. Incognito stops Google using your signed-in search history. It still uses where you are, though. A search in incognito abroad still shows results for where Google thinks you are.

Will my customers see the same results as me?

Usually not. Google shapes results around where each person is. Local results can change across a town. So a report that checks many points across your area tells you far more than one search on your phone.