Why Personal Search Results Now Vary Drastically by Location

The same Google search can yield very different results depending on your location. For businesses and individuals, these location-based changes can affect visibility, reputation, and even how personal information appears online. This shift in personal search results isn’t random—it’s the product of Google’s growing focus on local context, privacy tools, and user-specific data.

What Are Personal Search Results?

Personal search results are tailored search engine pages that show different information based on your location, search history, and account activity. They can include everything from business listings and map locations to news articles and personal information pulled from public sources.

For example:

• Searching for your name in your home city may show your LinkedIn profile, local news coverage, or property records.
• Searching for the same name from another city may display only national results or outdated pages.

These personalized results are designed to provide users with the most relevant and useful information based on their context. However, this personalization also means that your personal information online can appear differently to various audiences, which can have both positive and negative implications.

Why Location Has a Bigger Impact Now

Google has always used location data to improve search relevance, but recent updates have made it more precise and influential. Your Google Search results are now influenced by multiple factors, including:

• GPS data from mobile devices provides highly accurate location details.
• IP address for desktop searches, helping Google approximate your general location.
• Location settings in the Google app allow users to control whether they allow or restrict location access.
• Nearby business profiles in the Knowledge Panel highlight local entities relevant to your query.

This means two people searching from different ZIP codes can see completely different results—even for the same name, business, or phone number. This level of granularity helps Google deliver more targeted and valuable information, but also means that your personal content and other personal details may be more exposed in certain areas.

When Location Personalization Becomes a Privacy Problem

While location-based personalization enhances user experience, it can sometimes lead to unintended privacy concerns. Location targeting can surface personal information that you don’t want visible in certain areas. Examples include:

• Home addresses appearing in local public records searches.
• Phone numbers from outdated or inaccurate business listings.
• Social media accounts tied to specific locations, which may reveal more about your whereabouts than intended.

If these details appear in your search results page, they could be scraped by data brokers, shared on other sites, or misused by malicious actors. This raises concerns about identity theft, stalking, and other privacy violations.

How to Remove Personal Information from Google Search

To help users regain control over their online presence, Google launched the Results About You tool. This feature allows you to monitor and remove your personal details from search results. This tool focuses on removing sensitive personal info such as:

• Home addresses
• Phone numbers
• Email addresses
• Other personally identifiable information (PII)

Steps to submit removal requests using the Results About You tool:

1. Access the Results About You feature by logging into your Google account and navigating to the tool via the Google app or web browser.
2. Enter your contact info and other relevant personal details you want Google to scan for in search results.
3. Once the scan completes, review the search results that contain your information.
4. On the search results page, click the three dots next to any result containing personal data.
5. Select “Remove result” from the updated menu and follow the prompts.
6. Fill out the removal request form with the URL of the page, reason for removal, and any additional information required.
7. Confirm your submission, and you will receive notifications about the status of your request via email or your Google account.

Google reviews these requests carefully, balancing privacy concerns against public interest before deciding whether to remove the information from search results. Note that this process removes the link from Google Search but does not delete the content from the original website. You may need to contact the website owner directly to request complete removal.

Why This Matters for Your Digital Identity

Your digital identity is not static; it evolves with your online activity and changes in Google’s algorithms. Because location now plays such a significant role in shaping personal search results, it can affect how different people perceive you based on where they search from.

Consider these scenarios:

• Employers conducting background checks in your local area may see different results than clients searching from another state or country.
• Competitors or acquaintances located nearby could access more detailed local content about you than you expect.
• Outdated or inaccurate local listings can persist in specific regions, potentially harming your reputation.

To maintain control, it’s crucial to regularly check your personal search results from multiple locations and devices. Using tools like VPNs or incognito mode can help you simulate searches from different areas. This proactive approach allows you to identify and address unwanted exposure early, protecting your privacy and reputation.

Additional Tips to Protect Your Personal Information Online

Beyond using Google’s Results About You tool, consider these strategies to safeguard your personal content:

• Regularly review privacy settings on your social media accounts to limit what is visible publicly.
• Remove or update outdated information on websites you control, such as blogs or business pages.
• Reach out to website owners hosting your personal data and request removal or correction.
• Use quotation marks when searching your name to find exact matches and better identify where your information appears.
• Be cautious about sharing sensitive information online, especially on public forums or untrusted sites.

By combining these steps with Google’s removal tools, you can better manage your online presence and reduce the risk of unwanted exposure.

Conclusion

The variability of personal search results by location reflects Google’s efforts to deliver more relevant and personalized information. However, this also means that your personal information online may be more accessible in some areas than others, raising privacy concerns.

Google’s Results About You tool provides a valuable way to remove info from search results with fewer clicks and greater control. By understanding how location affects search visibility and actively managing your personal details, you can protect your digital identity and maintain privacy in an increasingly connected world.

Regular monitoring, combined with proactive removal requests and privacy best practices, is your best defense against unintended exposure.