Same search, same country, different results. Why??

[Steven1976a]

Im searching for the search term “silver jewellery” at the same time as a friend Im speaking to on Msn. We are both in the same country (Thailand) yet at exactly the same time we are both seeing different results. At No. 9 on my computer it shows www.silver.uk.com but on his computer at exactly the same time they are at 25th position

How can this be?

How can we send SEO reports to clients if the results are so different?

[incrediblehelp]

Steven this is why ranking reports are not going to be a very usable metric in the future. Instead you will have to concentrate more on traffic reports to represent that fact you have the ranks for a particular keyword.

The most widely varying SE right own is Google. I almost never get the same ranking position when talking to clients. This is OK and as long as you explain the reason for it (personalization/localization/datacenters) then the clients should be ok with it.

I understand you said you are seeing the same thing on MSN. I am sure MSN SERPs are influenced by similar factors as the three mentioned above for Google, but they are simply not made to light as much as Google.

[freetraff]

Steven1976a, I have an even better example. Same country, same place, two computers are standing close to each other. And Google results differ.

incrediblehelp was right saying the webmasters show big shift to log analyzing softs.

And I also think that as MSN and Yahoo become more predictable, we will see a big market move towards loving these engines.

Only after Google overcomes all its problems with passing to better algorithms, the situation with its searches will get more stable. Many people report spam sites taking top positions, and their real value sites getting out.

But no need to worry. Before search engines invent effective artificial intelligence, nothing brand new will come to success forumula: value web site + SE-friendly methods => success & traffic

[gowilkes]

This is just a guess, but I see that you spelled it "silver jewellry" (with 2 Ls). The correct spelling would be "silver jewelry" (with 1 L).

Is it possible that your friend spelled it correctly? This would explain why there were different results from the exact same database.

[gowilkes]

Allow me to correct myself. "Jewelry" would be the correct AMERICANIZED spelling; I see now that you're in Thailand, and the European spelling would include 2 Ls.

[Andilinks]

Yes, and the British spelling includes an "e" as in "jewelery" so the issue of spelling is important in this instance.

But I sometimes get different results from the identical query in the same location just minutes apart. Just hitting "Refresh" ot "Reload" can sometimes change the order of the results. The best explanation I can offer for this is that not all servers and not all data centers are updated at the same time so each query can be accessing a different version of the index.

Noah Webster established American spelling and pronunciation conventions in an 1840's textbook that remained very popular for more than fifty years...

I think this was a good thing. :)

[DrTandem1]

Anyway, to answer your question, you are both hitting different MSN servers. This could happen from the same LAN with different computers, depending on network traffic.

[Christiaan]

And using a different browser might get you also different readings.

[Peter (IMC)]

I think he meant MSN messenger,. :)

I think the main reason is different datacenters. Google updates a part of the factors they monitor every week.

Personalized search would only work if you´re actually logged in.

I haven't seen any change in results other than different datacenters, and the differences are small, unless there's a big update going on.

[Ciprian]

Originally Posted by freetraff

Steven1976a, I have an even better example. Same country, same place, two computers are standing close to each other. And Google results differ.

Sometimes I had different results from 2 sequent searches on the same machine. So, instead of sending a ranking report with these unstable rankings, I usually build a report with Min/Max rankings, analyzing about 50 datacenters. I also do that regarding indexed pages and inbound links (IBL's only when an update is in progress or something).

Hope this helps.

Kind regards,
Ciprian Sorlea.

[danners02]

I would try the same datacentre when talking to a friend/client so you get same results (hopefully) - list below:
www-ex.google.com 216.239.33.100
www-sj.google.com 216.239.35.100
www-va.google.com 216.239.37.100
www-dc.google.com 216.239.39.100
www-ab.google.com 216.239.51.100
www-in.google.com 216.239.53.100
www-zu.google.com 216.239.55.100
www-cw.google.com 216.239.57.100
www-fi.google.com 216.239.41.100
www-gv.google.com 216.239.59.100

[Steven1976a]

just to clarify, no searches were made on msn. I was using msn just to chat to a friend online at the same time.

[DrTandem1]

Originally Posted by Steven1976a

just to clarify, no searches were made on msn. I was using msn just to chat to a friend online at the same time.

Regardless, if you were both using the same SE, you were hitting different servers/data centers.

[Steven1976a]

It is mental though that even if we are looking on different servers/data centers that the results can be so different. Surely the way in which they rank the sites should be the same for all data centers. I understand that some data centers may be updating at different times of the day but they seem to be jumping all over the show on the results at the moment.

Another example is if you do a search for wholesale body jewellery (UK spelling for any US citizens without the oxford dictionary) at this present moment we show at No. 10 when i do a search but im sure over the next couple of hours if I search again we will show anywhere between 8-13.

[Peter (IMC)]

There is a name for this: GOOGLE DANCE

:)

[incrediblehelp]

There is no "Google dance" anymore. This different from what we are seeing here. These movements could be two things:

1. This is way results will show in Google from now on. Fluxuations like this can be expected when Google uses personalization/localization while load balancing searches on different datacenters. Google has even suggested they test different algo on different datacenters. :(

2. Google is having issues with their data. These fluxuations are not going to stay this way and Google is just having troubles aligning the datacenters.

My feelings are it is a combination of the two above.

The old dance, as I am sure everyone remembers, was when the datacenters move all over the place and then eventually synced up and only one new algo was applied. This "syncing" doesn't appear to be taking place anymore.

[DrTandem1]

It is highly unlikely that all the Google data centers will ever show the exact same results. Why? Because it's a lot like painting the Golden Gate Bridge. It's never done. It is always being painted. Google, as a whole, is always in a state of flux.

It may be more apparent when they are having a major update/algo change compared with simply the ebb and flow of the internet.

[incrediblehelp]

Doesn't everyone remember the term "everflux" after Google stopped dancing?

[Andilinks]

I'll just add one more observation. I add new pages to my site on a regular basis. It usually takes ten days for Google to index a new page, sometimes as long as three weeks, sometimes just a few days. It usually takes 2-3 days from the time a page first appears in the index until it reaches its eventual traffic peak though this has at times taken weeks.

During those transitions the new pages exist on some servers in some data centers and searches on those keywords are often different with each query.

Multiply that by the number of people adding new pages to the internet. What is amazing is not that the results are sometimes different but that they have as much consistency as they do.

I expect more stability as the big daddy infrastructure settles in but the index will never be "finished."