Published: August 22, 2012
Important: Did you install the right Firefox version for your locale/language? If not then install that first and then come back here if you’re still having a problem.
After trying for some time to figure out why the Google search in Firefox was sending me to google.com instead of google.co.uk I finally figured it out. But first make sure that your locale and search settings are right.
If you changed any settings then restart Firefox. If all of the above are right and you’ve originally installed the correct Firefox version for your locale, but still have the problem then it’s time to remove the offending cookie.
Now try searching using the search box to see if it’s fixed. If not then repeat 1-4 above, but delete all the google.com cookies. Note that you will be logged out of all or most google services.
If this didn’t solve it for you please say so below and I’ll see if I can find a solution for you. Sorry this post is now archived.
UPDATE: If above doesn’t work please check these options in about:config
Also, the default is for Firefox to NOT use the OS locale. You can try changing intl.locale.matchOS to true.
Remove the current “Google” from your list of search providers. The dropdown arrow should be highlighted. Open the list and at the bottom it should say “Add Google”. This will add the current page.
Posted by Leon Victor on 21 Dec 2012
@Leon, yes, that may work for some people and is certainly worth a try before the more in-depth process outlined above. Thanks, Paul
Posted by paul on 21 Dec 2012
Thanks, this has been bugging me for a while. I was surprised I had to go further than the first set of instructions, but it worked as soon as I removed the google.com PREF cookie.
Posted by Steven on 10 Mar 2013
That really worked. Great work. Thanks for the informatinon
Posted by cj on 19 Apr 2013
My company network accesses the Internet in Germany, and Firefox was using google.de when typing search in the address bar. The two changes in about:config corrected this, but the keyword.url was initially blank, and it took me a while to figure out that the entry needs to be:
http://www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q=
just entering www.google.co.uk does not work. This is also useful:
http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keyword.URL
Thanks for the advice. It has fixed the problem for me.
Posted by Peter on 7 May 2013
I have followed all your instructions - including deleting all google.com cookies and using http://www.google.co.uk/search?ie=UTF-8&oe=utf-8&q= as suggested by Peter.
I am still getting google.es - the problem may be compounded because I live in Spain and have a Spanish IP address.
I have no problem if I use a bookmark to google .co.uk
Posted by DavidJowett on 23 Jun 2013
@DavidJowett, the purpose of these instructions is to reset Firefox to using the local version, which in your case is working - you get google.es. To get something other than your local version I expect you’ll need the PREF cookie to be set to the co.uk version. And also try setting Keyword.URL to .co.uk: http://kb.mozillazine.org/Keyword.URL#Replacing_Google_with_other_search_engines_for_location_bar_search Unfortunately I haven’t done any work on doing it the way you’re trying to so I’m not sure whether this will work.
Posted by paul on 24 Jul 2013
Thank you thank you thank you.
Clearing the cookie sorted it for me
Posted by Alastair Battrick on 24 Jul 2013
holy cow. The PREF thing. this finally did it. You are a star
Posted by Richard Hollyoak on 24 Jul 2013
Sweeeet
M<any thanks!!
Posted by Nick on 21 Sep 2013
Brilliant! You’re a star!
Posted by Trevor on 14 Nov 2013
Thank you. It’s been driving me mad. Deleting the PREF cookie fixed it for me.
Posted by Steve on 25 Dec 2013
This really helped me a lot, i always got lesser relevant results when searching from my address bar becasue it defaults to .com. I found that the above steps will not work if you are using the “Google Default” search engine, you must select just “Google”
Posted by Thabo Nghonyama on 9 Feb 2014
I also had the same problem. I also had to remove all history items associated with Google.com for it to work. Thanks a lot.
Posted by Emad on 21 Feb 2014
Thank you, Deleting the PREF cookie fixed it. I can now rightclick on selected text and get search results from google.co.uk instead of google.com
Posted by ellen on 22 Jun 2014
Thanks for this I had to dlete all google.com cookies and got the result I wanted - no more USA adverts Thanks again
Posted by Ken on 9 Jul 2014
I had to delete all the google.com cookies and this has solved the problem. Thanks very muchj it was gettig my blood pressure up and I was shouting at the computer!!
Posted by Ken on 10 Jul 2014
Nothing works for me :(
My useragent.locale is set to en_GB.
I’ve deleted ALL google.com cookies.
There was no keyword.url so I’ve added one, and even followed Peter’s instructions above (from 7 May 2013) but still I get American results when I search.
I even deleted Google (with the new blue G logo) as a search engine and added in Google Default with Peter’s keywords.
I’m based in London, but I think our network is just pushing everything through the US.
I’m gonna have to decamp to Google Chrome - at least I get back English results!
Posted by Kate on 12 Nov 2014
@Kate, I’m sorry nothing has worked for you. I did notice that you mentioned setting useragent.locale with an underscore rather than a dash/hyphen. Please check that to be sure. If you do find a solution please post here so others can benefit. Thanks!
Posted by paul on 18 Nov 2014
Local google search was bugging me, so I added into the Firefox search “encrypted” google
Posted by Hakan on 22 Jan 2015
@Paul, sorry to take so long to reply: I made a type above. I had set it o en-GB but it’s still offering me plumbers in Connecticut. :( Anyone know of a good search engine (not Bing!) that gives LOCAL results??
Posted by Kate on 9 Mar 2015
Hi,
Just as was the case with Kate, not much seems to work here either. The seach engine in Chrome deafults to google.co.uk, but the seach box in Firfox keep deafulting to the google.com. Cookies have been dealted and the “general.useragent.locale” is set to “en-GB”.
When the Google search page appears, I can scroll down to the bottom and click the “Use google.co.uk”, but even setting this with Google, doesn’t affect where Firefox seems to want to send the request.
Chris
Posted by Chris on 21 Mar 2015
@Hakan, thanks for that suggestion.
@Kate, @Chris, I’ve found some additional options to try and updated the main post. Hopefully they will work. BTW, have you tried Hakan’s suggestion?
Posted by paul on 22 Mar 2015
I’ve found this https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/questions/1027924
Mycroft Project it works
Posted by Peter on 15 Aug 2018