Google, you have some explaining to do!

ShiftySituation · Feb 16, 2011

My site ranks 34 for a really competitive keyword, so I thought. Here is what is happening;

When I check Google using Chrome browser, my site shows as #34.
When I check it via Firefox, it's #34.
Market Samurai shows it at #34.
Now it is safe to say that my site ranks #34? I thought until I used Internet Explorer and there is my site, sitting at #3!

Now, I have another computer and checked the site with all browsers, cookies cleared, ccleaner, ect... and all browsers show #34.

Here is the kicker... My friend, that lives on the other side of the country, tried it and the site was at #34 for all browsers EXCEPT Chrome, which showed the site at #3.

All cookies are cleared, temp files deleted, ect... So I'm pretty sure it isn't anything on the computer making it happen. There is no reasoning behind it and now, over 12 hours later, it still shows the same rankings as above.

Anyone have any ideas on what would be causing that?

Autumn · Feb 16, 2011

Separate caches of DNS results in each browser, meaning that the browsers are checking your results on a different data centre.

wannabie · Feb 16, 2011

Have you got instant turned on?

Botwiz · Feb 16, 2011

I'm with you there is definitely something odd going on. Did you see my prior post about accessing google from a USA IP and being directed to another countries google. Very odd.

appliedscience · Feb 16, 2011

exactly the same thing with me, across Safari, IE and FF, I'm almost never ranking the same across all 3 browsers (same IP and checking at the same time). I look at Market Samurai rankings, goes more towards IE results.

aldragon · Feb 16, 2011

Botwiz said:
I'm with you there is definitely something odd going on. Did you see my prior post about accessing google from a USA IP and being directed to another countries google. Very odd.

One of my windows dedis redirects me to G indonesia WFT is going on?

Botwiz · Feb 16, 2011

aldragon said:
One of my windows dedis redirects me to G indonesia WFT is going on?

Surprised that there isn't more discussion about this. Basically this is what I read from google and it seems that its happening more and more now. Though it has been happening for sometime.

From -http://www.google.com/support/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=873

We normally redirect users in countries other than the United States from Google.com to one of our country-specific sites (e.g. http://www.google.co.uk for Google UK) to provide easy access to country-specific search features. We use your computer's IP address, which is frequently the internet address of your Internet Service Provider (ISP), to determine your location and the corresponding Google domain.

If you'd prefer to visit Google.com instead, click on the "Google.com" link on the bottom right-hand side of the Google homepage.

If you have cookies enabled, your browser will connect directly to Google.com on all subsequent visits. For more information on cookies, please visit http://www.google.com/cookies.html and http://www.google.com/privacy.html

If cookies are disabled, you'll experience the same redirect each time you visit Google. You can solve this either by enabling cookies or setting a bookmark for http://www.google.com/webhp. In the latter case, you'll be taken to http://www.google.com/webhp, which is exactly the same as Google.com, each time you select the bookmark.

Finally, if you feel that we're detecting your IP address incorrectly, please use the "Contact us" link below to send us the following information:

1. Your IP address. If you don't know your IP address, please visit http://www.whatismyip.com and send us the IP that is listed on the top of the page. Your IP address will look something like this: 217.148.184.7
2. Your physical location (for example, Paris, France).
3. The Google site you're being redirected to (for example, Google.co.in).

If we're able to fix the problem on our end, we'll do so within a few weeks.

alexlin9008 · Feb 17, 2011

Maybe Google decided to become more amazing and started detecting what people using some browsers and from some countries like.
That'd be cool and terribly annoying at the same time.

Monrox · Feb 17, 2011

Well Chrome is phoning home and there was a scandal that FF is leaking 'packets' too. I don't think cookies are the only evil but never had the time to go through months of wireshark logs.

That is not to say that results are the same across different data centers. It's just an additional detail.

appliedscience · Feb 17, 2011

alexlin9008 said:
Maybe Google decided to become more amazing and started detecting what people using some browsers and from some countries like.
That'd be cool and terribly annoying at the same time.

That makes sense if it is the case. I use Safari and search for keyword in my niche fairly regularly (broad topics within the niche). My rankings for my website are higher. When searching the same keywords on IE (different computer not used when browsing this niche), my websites rank lower. Although, if some websites seem to be ranking higher based of my searching history... they should be classified as being more important in google's eyes I think - if it's more relevant for people wanting info in that niche it should be the same or more relevant for people new to the niche.

4trsuted · Feb 17, 2011

google places cookie or smth like that to track your search patterns and search results from different computers or browsers may give you different results

flaktrak · Feb 17, 2011

I have been getting some weird results depending on what machine I use. Even if I use same proxy and same browser on another machine I am getting different results. Kind of weird!

striding cloud · Feb 17, 2011

google has different data for each countries. u might be ranked #3 for google.com but #23 google.ca (canada) ..or i'm missing something here

Powelly · Feb 17, 2011

You can add strings at the end of your query in the address bar to get the proper results, e.g.:
&pws=0 - Turns off personalised web dearch
&gl=us - Shows results for US Google

nanotechno · Feb 17, 2011

I would have to say that IE has some explaining to do.

Hit cntrl+shift+n when using Google Chrome, that will bring up incognito searching on Chrome. They claim this:

You've gone incognito. Pages you view in this window won't appear in your browser history or search history, and they won't leave other traces, like cookies, on your computer after you close the incognito window. Any files you download or bookmarks you create will be preserved, however.

Going incognito doesn't affect the behavior of other people, servers, or software. Be wary of:
Websites that collect or share information about you
Internet service providers or employers that track the pages you visit
Malicious software that tracks your keystrokes in exchange for free smileys
Surveillance by secret agents
People standing behind you

blue_wings · Feb 17, 2011

Starting from your observation I ran some tests tonight using my IP and other 2 proxies from towns I picked deliberately so I can have good results for my tests. I will try to put here the results, but the forum keeps getting errors: message has triggered moderation system.

For tests I made searches on 2 strings for which I have 2 different websites ranked on 1st page. One of the keywords is "web design" (yeah, preety mad from my part to start optimizing a website for that keyword...but I actually rank on 1st page on a local market, not global). The other keyword is also a tough one but it's not an English term, and I also rank for a local market, not global.

So, here are the results:
1st keyword (web design) - tested in Google / Yahoo / Bing search engines
Google Chrome: #4 / - / -
Firefox: #4 / - / -
IE8: #15 / - / -
Note: I have no results in Yahoo and Bing on "web design" because they are not showing local businesses / results based on my I P address.

2nd keyword - tested in Google / Yahoo / Bing search engines
Google Chrome: #2 / #5 / #1
Firefox: #3 / #5 / #1
IE8: #6 / #5 / #1

Conclusions:
1. Google results depend on what browser you use, which is c r a p from my point of view.
2. Google results depend on your IP address, which is a gold mine for those who know how to exploit this. (Just a hint...make a website, put it in google local business on another town/country and you will quickly rank for that country).There are many aspects here to be tested...one of my websites is in Google Local Business and all searches are influenced by the location I input there. For other websites I have not set a local business and it seems they rank better for national market or even international market...
2.a. In some cases Google Local Business sux and it's better not to use it.
3. Yahoo and Bing rankings are not affected by browser nor by I P address, which makes the results too global.

bertbaby · Feb 17, 2011

I was told that Google in a effort to be green will have their data centers follow the moon apparently to reduce the electrical costs for air conditioning. That means during the day you are more likely be served by a data center half the world away where it is night. How they address the latency issues following such a model, well you got me.

striding cloud · Feb 18, 2011

i use IE to check my local ranking and use firefox to check google US ranking
(i.e google.com ). i set my homepage to google.com for firefox, otherwise google.com will automatically redirect to local (i.e. google.com.my)

ShiftySituation · Feb 18, 2011

Here is some more info that may make it ever more weird...

In IE, I tried the KW with 2 letters switch around so the word is miss-spelled. Well, Google recognizes the miss-spelling and says "Showing results for "correct spelling". The result is that my site is #34 instead of #3. Now if I click on the correct spelling, even though it is showing results for the correct spelling already, my site is now at #3 again.

EddieArnoldnk43 · Feb 18, 2011

ShiftySituation said:
Here is some more info that may make it ever more weird...

In IE, I tried the KW with 2 letters switch around so the word is miss-spelled. Well, Google recognizes the miss-spelling and says "Showing results for "correct spelling". The result is that my site is #34 instead of #3. Now if I click on the correct spelling, even though it is showing results for the correct spelling already, my site is now at #3 again.

This might be a stupid question, but I have to ask. Did you disable "customizations based on search activity" in your browser?

Google, you have some explaining to do!

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