Google determines your country from several signals, including your account region / home address, device location (GPS, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth scanning, browser location) and IP usage history. When Google wrongly identifies an IP as being in China, services such as Gemini and YouTube Premium may become unavailable.

Step 1: Correct your account's country association with the Country Association Form

First, use Google's official Country Association form to set your Google account's primary country to the United States. Everything that follows builds on this step.

  1. Open the form:
    https://policies.google.com/country-association-form
  2. If you are asked to sign in, sign in with the affected Google account.
  3. In the form:
    • In the "current associated country/region" drop-down, select the region you want to associate with, for example United States.
    • For the state, select California so that it matches the account address you will set later.

Step 2: Check and override location on your computer

1. Browser location rule

  • Either turn location off, or, if you keep it on, make sure the browser location matches the IP location (both United States / Los Angeles).

2. Install and configure Location Guard V3 (Chrome as an example)

  1. Use a Chromium-based browser such as Chrome, Edge or Brave.
  2. Open this page in the Chrome Web Store:
    Location Guard (V3)
  3. Click "Add to Chrome" to install the extension.
  4. After installation, click the Location Guard icon in the browser toolbar and click "Options" in the panel.
  5. On the "Options" page, change "Default level" from its default value to "Use fixed location".
  6. Then click "Fixed location", click the magnifier (search) icon beside the map, type "Los Angeles", choose the first result "Los Angeles, CA, US" and save the location.
  7. Open Google Maps or another site that requests your location in a new tab. When the browser asks for location permission, click "Allow". The site now receives the Los Angeles location set in the extension instead of your real location.

3. Refresh Google's location "impression" with Google Maps

  1. Make sure Location Guard is fixed to Los Angeles.
  2. Open Google Maps and allow the browser to access your location.
  3. Click the location icon in the lower-right corner. Google should only see "somewhere in Los Angeles".
  4. Keep using Search, YouTube and other services normally in the same environment for a while.

Tip: Using a browser with location override on your computer together with a clean IP for a period of time (from one week to one month) usually helps the IP get corrected to the target country.

Step 3: Report your current IP with the IP location correction form

After correcting the account association and location, you can use Google's IP location correction form to mark the IP you are using as United States. This helps speed up the correction of the IP itself.

  1. Open the form:
    https://support.google.com/websearch/workflow/9308722
  2. Sign in with the affected Google account.
  3. In the form:
    • Select United States as the country/region.
    • Where the form asks for an IP, enter the IP address you are currently using (you can check it on sites such as whatismyipaddress.com).

Step 4: Notes for mobile devices

1. General rules

  • Phones are the most common source of being located in China, especially Android with Google services.
  • If you rely heavily on Gemini and similar services, use a computer or iPhone as your main way to access Google, and use Android phones only occasionally.

2. Recommended Android settings

  • System location: Turn off "Location" in system settings, or turn it off while using Google services.
  • App permissions: Do not give Google Play, Google, Google Maps or similar apps "Allow all the time" location access. Use "Allow only while using the app" when needed and turn it off afterwards.
  • Google account activity: Turn off "Web & App Activity" and other options that record location in your account settings.
  • Language and region: Set the system language to English (United States) and set the region inside Google apps to United States.

3. Recommended iPhone settings

  • In "Settings → Privacy & Security → Location Services", turn off or limit location access for Google apps.
  • Do not stay signed in to your Google account on your phone with location turned on for long periods. Use it only when needed and turn it off afterwards.

Step 5: Usage habits and other tips

  • Avoid turning on location, prefer English as the language, choose United States as the region, and avoid Chinese phone numbers and email addresses.

Step 6: Change your Google account address to California, United States

After completing the steps above, change your Google account address to California, United States so that your account details match your actual usage environment.

  1. Sign in to your Google account in a browser and open the Google Account management page.
  2. Go to the pages related to "Personal info / Payments & subscriptions / Payment profile" and find options such as home address / account address / payment profile address.
  3. Set the country/region to United States, the state to California, and the city to Los Angeles or a nearby city. Enter a properly formatted US address (the street can be arbitrary but should look like a real address).
  4. After saving, keep the US address long term and do not switch countries back and forth.

Following these steps minimises the risk of being located in China and, when an IP or account is misidentified, gives Google reliable evidence that the account and IP are actually in Los Angeles, United States, which speeds up recovery to the correct region.

Was this answer helpful? 0 Users Found This Useful (0 Votes)