Google Geo-Targeting Shift Impacts SEO Ranking Tools

Image credit: Abondance

Google altered its handling of geographic targeting in search engine results pages (SERPs) between May 14 and May 15, 2026, rendering the &gl=fr parameter unreliable for retrieving French search results from non-French IP addresses.

This change significantly impacted the accuracy of most SEO position tracking tools that rely on foreign proxies, leading to compromised ranking data for France, even for high-volume keywords and top positions.

The affected tools generally do not display alerts, instead presenting the inaccurate data as normal on their dashboards, according to industry observations.

SEO platforms Monitorank and Ranxplorer identified the issue and subsequently deployed a fix, claiming to now provide reliable data for French SERPs, Fabien Barry reported. Goserp is also reportedly unaffected by the change.

Users can independently verify the problem by utilizing a foreign VPN, opening a private browsing session, and adding &gl=fr to a Google URL, then comparing those results with a standard connection from within France.

The alteration means that businesses and marketers tracking their search performance in France using external tools may be operating with flawed information, potentially misguiding their SEO strategies.

Source: Abondance