Valentin.app Question

[Amy Toman]

I've been using (the wonderful) Valentin.app tool, and I'm wondering what I'd doing wrong. When the results come up in a separate window, and I don't see the listing I need, I click in one of the listings (the white area), and that should take me to another screen, listing more GMB listings in the same search area. But that's not always what happens. Quite frequently, that next screen reverts to my current (physical) location. I'm not sure what, if anything, I'm doing wrong. This has happened in Chrome and Opera browsers. Any thoughts? Any workarounds? TIA.

 

[Phil Rozek]

@Amy Toman, I don't believe you're doing anything wrong, but there's no workaround (that I know of). If you don't see the listing you want, you'll need to go back to valentin.app and enter a fresh query.

 

[Amy Toman]

Really? Interesting. Thank you for that reassurance. When it doesn't work, I try new (ok, the same) query again, and sometimes I switch browsers. I can usually get it to go after a bit. (And needless to say, if the client is in the local pack, I often leave it at that). Thanks, @Phil Rozek!

 

[Phil Rozek]

Yeah, rank-checking often is a matter of cobbling together different methods. Valentin.app is great, but I tend to lean more on the AdWords Ad Preview & Diagnosis Tool.

 

[Stefan Somborac]

@Amy Toman When you're inputting your details for the first step of that process your browser is on Valentin.app. (Check the URL.) It combines 1.) your query with 2.) a spoofed location, and when you click "search" it sends both to Google.

Valentin.app's job is to build that query and send it to Google. After that, it is no longer involved.

So, in the new window, you have the results from Google. Google provided those results based on your query and the spoofed location data passed from Valentin.app. But to be clear, that new window came from Google. (Check the URL.)

At this point, you are no longer on Valentin.app and so you are no longer using Valentin.app. Any click on that results page takes you from a Google page to another Google page. Valentin.app is not part of the process.

Make sense?

The Bright Local tool works the same way.

There are plugins for both Chrome and Firefox that perpetually spoof your address, so each query you make is made as though you were at your desired location. I've seen such a plugin work beautifully but never consistently. If you explore plugins and find one that works reliably please report back!

 

[Amy Toman]

@Stefan Somborac, I understand about the Google interaction, which is why I wonder why it works, but not consistently.

Also, I've tried a few of the plugins that spoof a location, but the one I tried recently (can't remember the name) didn't work. If you have any recommendations, I'd love to try them.

 

[chadkimball]

I love Local & International Google SERP Checker such a great tool