Confused by website ranking? You’re not alone! This blog reveals why your Google position might be a mirage. Discover how personalised results and location impact ranking and learn how to see your website’s true position.
Published on July 14, 2009
It seems easy to check, doesn’t it? Just type in the keywords you rank well for, and your website will be near the top of the results…
Actually, that’s not your accurate ranking at all!
Check again using a friend’s computer, and you’ll get a very different result.
This can be embarrassing. I did this many times at a friend’s house before figuring out what was happening: “Hey, John, check this out. My website is #1 for ‘XYZ widgets’… hey, wait a second, where the heck is it?” Stink!
Why Does This Happen?
Over time, Google learns about you, your search behaviour, and what results you like (through software such as browser plugins, cookies, and being signed in to your Google account).
So, every time you do a Google search on your computer, you are training the Google search algorithm.
Whenever you click on a search result, Google ticks a box to say” “Yes! We gave that searcher the link they wanted “!” But every time you return to the results using the” “Ba” k” button, Google ticks a box to say”, “No! That wasn’t what they wanted. Let’s try harder next time, t “am!”
That is one of the ways that Google incrementally improves their search results over time.
But you are just one person, and your behaviour has only a tiny impact on the world. But it dramatically impacts the search results you get from your computer!
So, you are pushing the link to your website higher up the search results because you are constantly clicking on the link (but most of the impact is confined to searches done on your computer).
How Can You Find Out What Your Rank in Google Really Is?
There is 1 way to get an accurate indication of your rank in Google (actually, there are many, but this is the easiest, cheapest, most accurate, non-biased way I have found).
And that is: RankTracker software.
The paid version is expensive and doesn’t add much functionality.
The free version is acceptable (but not being able to save the reports can get annoying).
Download the RankTracker software and give it a try.
(And no, I don’t get paid for linking to them)
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