See Google results from a city you are not in
Searching from your own desk tells you how you rank in exactly one place. This builds a link that opens the real results for any city, in your own browser — no scraping, no proxies, nothing to subscribe to.
Enter a search term to build the link.
Decode a uule someone else builtOpen
Why this builds links instead of showing rankings
Every free rank checker that displays positions is scraping Google. That means a proxy pool, a parser that breaks whenever the markup shifts, and a terms-of-service problem the tool never mentions. It works until it does not, usually the week you need it.
Opening the real search in your own browser has none of those failure modes. You see exactly what a searcher sees — ads, map pack, AI Overview, People Also Ask, the lot — rather than a stripped list of ten blue links a parser managed to extract.
The trade is that you look rather than get a number. For checking a handful of important queries across your service area, that is the better tool. For tracking hundreds of keywords daily, buy a rank tracker — they pay for the proxy infrastructure so you do not have to.
What actually moves local rankings
- 1Proximity. The single strongest map pack factor, and the one you cannot change. A business in Brampton will not top the pack for a searcher in Scarborough, however good its SEO.
- 2Your Google Business Profile. Categories, hours, photos, review velocity and Q&A. This moves the pack far more than anything on your website does.
- 3Prominence. Citations, reviews and mentions across the web. Consistency of name, address and phone matters more than volume.
- 4Genuinely local pages. A real page per service area with real local content. Not the same page with the city name swapped forty times — Google has been able to spot that for a decade.
Frequently asked questions
Why can I not just search from my own computer?
Because Google localises heavily and silently. It infers your location from your IP, your device location if permitted, and your account history, then reorders results around it. Searching "emergency plumber" in Toronto and in Mississauga returns materially different pages, and neither tells you what the other looks like. If you serve several suburbs, checking from your desk tells you about exactly one of them.
What is the uule parameter?
It is an undocumented Google search parameter that encodes a location, so the results come back as though the searcher were there. This tool builds it from Google's canonical geo-target names, which is the form rank trackers have used for years. Being undocumented, it can change without notice — it works today and it is the only free way to get city-level precision. That is exactly why the tool also gives you the country-level link built from gl and hl, which are stable.
Why does the tool not just show me the rankings?
Because scraping Google's results is against its terms of service, needs a rotating proxy pool to work at any volume, and breaks whenever the markup changes. A tool built that way is either expensive, unreliable, or quietly doing something you would not want your agency doing. Handing you a link that opens the real thing in your own browser is legal, free, and permanently reliable.
Do I need to use a private window?
Yes, and it matters more than the uule parameter does. Your search history and signed-in Google account personalise results heavily. The pws=0 parameter asks Google not to personalise, but it is a request, not a guarantee, and it does nothing about your physical IP. A private window with pws=0 and a uule is about as close to a neutral view as you can get without a proxy.
What is the difference between gl and uule?
gl sets the country of search — gl=ca returns Canadian results. uule sets a specific place, down to the city. Use gl alone when you want to know how a country sees you, which is the more reliable of the two. Add uule when the question is city-specific, which for most local businesses it is: ranking first in "Canada" is not a thing, ranking first in Brampton is.
Why does my custom location produce odd results?
Almost certainly the canonical name. Google's geo-targets use an exact form — "Leeds,England,United Kingdom" — and anything else encodes to a valid-looking parameter for a location Google does not recognise, which it then quietly ignores. There is no error message; the search just behaves as if you had not set one. Use the picker where you can, and match the City,Region,Country pattern exactly where you cannot.
Does this show me the local map pack?
The search link shows whatever Google renders for that query and location, map pack included. For local businesses the pack is usually where the money is, so the tool also gives you a direct Google Maps link for the same query and place. Map pack ranking is driven by proximity, prominence and your Google Business Profile rather than by your pages, so treat it as a separate scoreboard from the organic results below it.
Related tools and reading
You rank differently in every suburb you serve.
Most local businesses have never checked more than one. If the gap between your best and worst service area surprises you, that gap is the opportunity.
Get a Free Local SEO Audit