Simple Efficiency Tricks with Google and Bing Search Parameters

After years of working with e-commerce search, I keep coming back to the same conclusion: once a search engine, always a search engine, no matter the size.

This realisation has led me, among other things, to explore how the filtering parameters we use in e-commerce can enhance productivity for SEO tasks. By understanding the parameters big search engines use, we can uncover shortcuts that make our daily SEO efforts more precise and effective.

For example, on Google, the hl (host language) and gl (geographic location) parameters have been part of my toolkit for years now, but I still believe that they’re not very well known.

TL;WR

It’s OK, we’re all busy.

• Google Parameters: Use hl for language and gl for location to favour results from specific regions.
• Bing Parameters: Use setLang for language and mkt for market to customise search results.
• Advanced Google Restriction: Use cr to strictly filter results by country.

Google’s Language and Location Parameters (hl, gl)

They let us tweak search results to fit our needs, whether by language preferences or by simulating results as if we’re searching from a specific country.

While these parameters don’t fully replicate the experience of searching from within that location, they’re excellent for favouring results from those regions. This is particularly useful for viewing your knowledge graph or metadata in other languages and locations.

For instance, searching for “pizza” in Italy could look like this:

https://www.google.it/search?q=pizza&hl=it&gl=IT

While searching for “pizza” in the US could look like this:

https://www.google.com/search?q=pizza&hl=en&gl=US

It’s also important to note that the gl parameter is more of a weight adjustment, favouring results from a specific country rather than restricting results to that country.

For stricter location-based filtering, Google provides the cr parameter, which restricts results to those determined by the specified country code. Learn more about how this parameter works from Google’s Custom Search Documentation.

Exploring Bing’s Language and Market Parameters (setLang, mkt)

Since 2025 is all about diversifying traffic sources, did you know Bing has similar parameters? Bing’s setLang and mkt (market) work in much the same way.

There are some differences though:

• Google's hl and gl help customise your searches by language and location, though they don’t replicate a full in-region experience. Instead, they bias the results to reflect regional preferences.
• Bing’s setLang and mkt allow you to define the language and market for your search results. While mkt specifies the region (e.g., en-GB for British English), setLangsubtly adjusts the prioritisation of results based on language preferences.

And to see these parameters in action, searching for “pizza” in Italy on Bing could look like this:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=pizza&mkt=it-IT&setLang=it

Similarly, searching in the United States might look like this:

https://www.bing.com/search?q=pizza&mkt=en-US&setLang=en

Why should you care?

By using these parameters, you can not only streamline workflows but also automate URL pattern creation, allowing for scalability as your needs grow. If you’re accustomed to using Google’s parameters, give Bing’s a try as well, you might find them surprisingly familiar and equally effective at simplifying tasks.

But why stop there? Explore the parameters offered by other search engines too. You could uncover additional tools to automate processes, enhance productivity, and refine SEO strategies across multiple platforms.

Resources and further reading

Accepted language and country codes:

• You can assume that the same language-country pairs you use for hreflang tags will work for Google too. When in doubt, check out these lists of language values and country codes.
• Market and language codes used by Bing Web Search API

More parameters:

• Google search parameters explained by SerpAPI
• Bing Web Search API Reference