London and Dublin sit close together and search in English, but Google treats them as different countries: gl=gb versus gl=ie. Results, local packs, and the businesses that dominate them diverge accordingly.
A common mistake is auditing the UK and assuming Ireland follows. It does not — the .ie market has its own incumbents. Compare the two directly and the difference is obvious.
London
gl=gb · hl=en
Dublin
gl=ie · hl=en
One language, two national indexes
With gl=gb, Google leans toward sites relevant to a UK audience; with gl=ie, Irish domains and Irish-audience sites gain visibility for the identical English query. Job boards and directories are where this shows most clearly — each market has incumbents the other barely surfaces.
UK sites do still appear in Irish results (and vice versa) when they genuinely serve that audience, which is exactly what makes this pair worth checking: the overlap is partial and unpredictable, not zero and not total.
What this means for a cross-market campaign
If you operate in both markets from one .co.uk or .com domain, this comparison shows whether Google actually associates you with Ireland — hreflang, local landing pages, and an Irish Google Business Profile all feed that association. Ranking well in London while being invisible in Dublin is the default outcome, not the exception.
For the local pack, the split is absolute: recruitment agencies near the London uule versus agencies near the Dublin one. Check which categories and review volumes win each pack — the bar to enter can differ sharply between the two capitals.
London vs Dublin: common questions
Does google.ie still give different results from google.com?
Google now serves results from google.com everywhere and country domains redirect to it. Location targeting lives in the parameters instead — gl=ie reproduces the Irish index regardless of which domain you type.
Why does my UK site rank in London but poorly in Dublin?
gl=ie favours pages Google associates with an Irish audience. Without Irish-specific signals — an Irish landing page, hreflang alternates, local citations — a UK site competes at a disadvantage against .ie incumbents.
Is this comparison useful for Google Ads planning too?
Yes. The ads shown on each SERP are geo-targeted, so previewing the Dublin page shows which competitors are bidding in Ireland before you commit budget there.
Related comparisons
- New York vs LondonCompare Google results for the same query in New York and London — see how the same search ranks differently across the US and UK.
- Toronto vs VancouverCompare Google local results in Toronto and Vancouver — two Canadian metros where the local pack reshuffles completely.
- Los Angeles vs New YorkCompare high-competition Google results in Los Angeles and New York — two of the most contested local markets in the US.
Want a different query or different cities? Open this in the tool and change anything — or browse more comparisons.