I Search From

It’s not a secret that Google search results are different for different people. (That’s why sharing a “Boolean string” is rarely enough to tell others how you have searched). Results depend on our locations, using Google.com vs. country-based Google, a language (other than English), and other variables. Searching on a mobile device can show different result pages than the desktop, too.

Telling Google that we are searching from a different country is a reasonable way to find more relevant results, but it doesn’t work smoothly. After all, Google is rightly suspicious of users who appear to be searching from far-away countries within minutes. (Expect to see captchas.)

For those of us sourcing globally, we can get help from a tool for AdWords advertisers to test their ads – Ad Preview Tool. (We have already begun using advertising tools for sourcing!)

I Search From provides convenient User Interface to Google’s AdWords test functionality. Here is what it looks like:

 

And here is what the results look like:

For those of us with love for examining URLs (nerdy, I know!), will notice this part of the URL: &adtest=on. This is what tells to Google to respond appropriately, without worrying how I got from California to Australia in no time. Another nice feature, you can block Google from using your IP address in the tool (the URL addition looks like this) – something we can’t do otherwise (and the IP address does alter the results).

Bottom line, the AdWords test tool, and I Search From as a UI for it, can be of much help when sourcing in a place different than where you are.

Are you looking to upgrade your Sourcing Toolbox for 2017? Please join me at

Productivity Tools Webinar –  – Thursday, December 15th, 2016

where we’ll go over 50+ tools – slides, video, a tip sheet, and one month of support are included.