Different SERP position results - WTF??

[terry56]

I am working with a client to increase PR of their site and I stumbled on a wierd result on Sunday...

I was checking SERP results from my home (50 miles N.W. of Los Angeles in Ventura county) for my selected keyword phrases for the clients site and the 2 main phrases came in at #1 and #2, so I email client and say "WooHoo! we did it." ...They responded with "Errr..no we are not"

I checked at work Monday (located 30 miles from L.A. in L.A. county)....

NO WAY!...The site was listed on PAGES 2 and 3!!! WTF!!!!

So, can anybody explain these wacky results??

P.S. Did you know that MOBILE SEARCH gives even more different results from desktop/Laptop results (on any subject) ???

 

[bgibson8708]

Are you logged into iGoogle? This tracks sites that you visit most frequently and will rank them higher in your search rankings.

Hope that helps.

 

[SebastianJu]

As far as I know google delivers different results for different google-tlds, for different ips because they are maybe found as from different countries and different on user-behaviour as stored in cookies on that pc.
Maybe one of these was different?

 

[terry56]

Thanks guys for the advice!!
I dont use iGoogle, but i suspect that it is my cookies. Maybe I will flush them out and check again.

 

[goldstrike4u]

Thanks guys for the advice!!
I dont use iGoogle, but i suspect that it is my cookies. Maybe I will flush them out and check again.

It is absolutely your cookies, if you are working on clients sites you continually need to clear your cookies and make sure you are not logged into Google.

 

[awayler]

I am getting the same odd google results. I always clear out the cookies and history. As I surf google with different proxies(all USA), my site jumps from 1st page to second page. The depressing thing is that my competition stays the same.

 

[seoblack221]

Same thing here. Was ranking well before the PR update, then they killed all of my rankings for a client. I live in LA County too, same shit is going on here in different parts of the city. Weird.

 

[nufaman]

Google does strange things. Some days I get different serps just by using different browsers!

 

[Teh_Diplomat]

Logging in to iGoogle, or using a localized version of google (google.ca for example) will skew your results, as will having your site bookmarked in your browser.

For checking rankings, I flip between using scroogle and hidemyass which gives more authentic results.

Mobile results may in fact change the results depending on your search engine looking for mobile sites, or if you log in to your google account and keep it on your mobile.

 

[jvmartija]

Try to use Chrome. It gives more accurate results than Firefox. You must also deactivate personalized search to see your real site rankings. Try to use also softwares like SEOBook's Rank Checker.

 

[vervel123]

And that's not all...when I checked my webmaster tools this morning tells me that my new site is on position 4 for my target keyword what is awesome. Then I go ti google search for the keyword and bam: I am 20....then using a proxy to be in the U.S bam: I am 10.......at list I am in the top 20...but what is my real position?

 

[kris1911]

hehe checking from the same PC that u use to login google webmaster tool or google account causes this.

 

[Project-Shadow]

It's called 'Personalized Search' - I'd bet that's what's causing your results to fluctuate.
http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54041 - you don't need to be logged into Google for results to be personalised to your browsing history anymore.

 

[SebastianJu]

It's called 'Personalized Search' - I'd bet that's what's causing your results to fluctuate.
http://www.google.com/support/accounts/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=54041 - you don't need to be logged into Google for results to be personalised to your browsing history anymore.

But how can it be that Seo RankCheacker, Market Samurai and the Firefox where Seo RankChecker is running are giving different results?
http://www.blackhatworld.com/blackh...l-300-adsense-niche-sites-48.html#post1702999

 

[markmaster]

This could be another issue: related to googles server setup (at least some years ago it was this way) the searches which are returned are sometimes coming from different servers and the servers are never showing the same results/ they have diifferences in the results. Dont know if this is still true?

 

[SebastianJu]

But these Results seems to be constant. Which means to me I cant be sure that my keys are really number one. When one Tool tells you its at position 2 and the other its at 11 its a huge difference.
So at the moment to be sure I will try to place my keys on each tool. So that its showing number one at each. Dont know another way to be sure to be number one in serps for a key.

 

[wickid12]

Only 30 miles? That's a first.

 

[biks]

Google does strange things. Some days I get different serps just by using different browsers!

I can verify this. I get different results from Safari and Firefox on my Mac. Never sure what to think.

 

[SebastianJu]

I can verify this. I get different results from Safari and Firefox on my Mac. Never sure what to think.

Maybe because of the languagesettings in browser?

 

[alexandervich]

I get this as well, I check on Chrome its number 5, I check on Explorer and FireFox and its on number 2. I cleared all of my history, literally everything possible and I am not signed into anything and it still gives me these random results. I jump from 5 to 2 and then to 5 and then to 2 again for the past week or so.