Re: [OT] Google search default lang.
On 22/06/11 18:39, Dave Sherohman wrote:
> On Mon, Jun 20, 2011 at 10:55:43PM +1000, Scott Ferguson wrote:
>> On 20/06/11 18:35, Dave Sherohman wrote:
>>> Oh, if only it were that simple... Most internationalized
>>> websites (including Google) seem to have completely given up on
>>> Accept-Language headers[1] in favor of relying on IP geolocation.
>>> I'm an American expat living in Sweden, so my browsers are set to
>>> send
>>>
>>> Accept-Language: en-us, en, sv-se
>>>
>>> Despite this, every time my Google cookie expires, it sends me
>>> the Swedish version of the page. Setting language preferences on
>>> the client side does *not* work[2] for Google or most other
>>> sites.
>>>
>>>
>>> [1] apparently on the theory that "most users don't know how to
>>> set their preferred lanuages, so the header specifies the
>>> browser's default instead of the user's preference"
>>>
>>> [2] even though it damn well should
>>>
>>
>> Are you sure this is not also Google's geolocation feature?
>
> My point is that geolocation should not matter.
No argument there.
All you have to do now is convince the search engines.
> Yes, I am physically in Sweden, however my Accept-Language header
> explicitly states that Swedish is NOT my preferred language.
> Documents should be provided in en-us if available, then en, and only
> sv-se if no English version is available, regardless of my location.
>
> How they determine my physical location (IP geolocation vs.
> approximating based on google's database of wireless access point
> locations vs. GPS vs. triangulating from cell towers vs. picking me
> out of a spy satellite image vs. whatever else) is completely
> irrelevant to this point.
>
Thanks for sharing for your problem solving technique.
Cheers
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