Browser conundrum with Google

[Conchman]

I am new to this list and I'm glad to find a group that is dedicated to Google issues.

First, I am the creator and Webmaster of Conchology - The Art & Science of Nature at worldwideconchology.com, one of the highest ranked conchology Web sites on Google. Conchology is the study of the shell created by a mollusk; essentially the hobby of shell collecting. My Web site is located at http://www.worldwideconchology.com .

With all of the search engine modifications at Google, I have fortunately been able to maintain a third or second place ranking using the search key word "conchology." This has been consistent for at least the past four years. As a matter of fact, I jumped to a number one ranking the other week (as viewed on Netscape 7.1) and then slipped to number three after a Google update. This is not my problem though; and who would complain about such good rankings.

My problem stems from the fact that when I use my most important search word "conchology" using Netscape 7.1 my ranking is higher -- either first or second, yet when I do the same search using I.E. 6.0, the Web site is consistently ranked one step lower! I have reloaded my browser software and used different computers with the same browser versions, yet the results for a "conchology" key word search on Google end with different ranking results.

WHAT GIVES??! I started to notice this inconsistency sometime in early December '03. I hope one of the experts on this forum can shed some light on this rather peculiar conundrum.

Many thanks.

[minstrel]

Hello, Conchman... welcome to WebProWorld.

This is one I've never heard before and I don't have Netscape 7 to check it out... I can't imagine why or how the browser would make a difference to what Google delivers...

Anyone else have both?

[ronniethedodger]

I tried that search term in Firebird and IE...both at Google and over at Netscape too. There were no differences.

It might help if you post the URL that pops up in the address bar on your Netscape browswer. There should be some extra query parameters in it...such as navclient=???? and utf-8=??? or some stuff like that.

If we have the url of the query that is showing you at number one, then we could try plugging that into our browswer address bar and see if the results are the same.

[Mel]

HI Conchman
I get the same anomoly using Netscape 7.1 and IE 6.0, but if I specify the data base to search from (i.e. www2.google.com) I get the same results with each browser, you have #2 and #3 rankings for conchology.

When I search at Netscape I get the same results with each browser.

It looks to me like it might be that Netscape is pulling results from a different datacenter than , but why this should be is a mystery to me.

[ronniethedodger]

Originally Posted by Mel

It looks to me like it might be that Netscape is pulling results from a different datacenter than , but why this should be is a mystery to me.

Can you post the link from the address bar in Netscape Mel?

I would like to see if I use the Netscape link in IE to see if the same results come up or not.

[Mel]

Hi Ronnie:
whoops....

Looks like that was a temporary anomoly (I suspect that it may have been a couple of datacenters that were not in sync) as today both brwosers return the same results.

[Conchman]

Dear Minstrel, ronniethedodger & Mel,

Many thanks for your reply to my questions. It seems then that datacenter syncronization maybe the culprit for the varied search ranking. So the obvious follow-on question is, "Does the I.E. Google Toolbar use a different datacenter than direct searches from the Google page using Netscape 7.1? I use the Google Toolbar in I.E. and search directly with Netscape. It never dawned on me that these varied methods of searching Google would result in different rankings. I hope the Google folks can get sync'd up soon!

Many thanks for all of your help. You guys are great!

There's always some great puzzle to be solved!!

[Mel]

It may or it may not, depending on which datacenter You get when searching with NS.

Google seems to alternate results from various data centers, but so long as all centers are in sync, this should not be a problme.

[Conchman]

Mel,
I've been reading various articles and forum messages on this Web site relative to datacenters and along with your explanation, I now have a better idea of how the Google-game works. As of this week, I've searched the word "conchology" on www.google.com, www2.google.com and www3.google.com using NS and IE, and my site [ http://www.worldwideconchology.com ]has been consistently ranked 2 and 3. So the conundrum is seemingly resolved. Hopefully Google will be keeping their remote servers in-sync in the future.
Thanks again.