I have a hub which ranks 2nd for a certain phrase when searched from my computer. but the same article appears in the middle of the 3rd page when searched from a different computer in the same geographical area. Can anybody explain the reason for this?
Thank you in advance.
Were you signed into your gmail or any other Google account while searching on the second computer? If no, that's why the second one was different because Google saves search term infos when you're signed into gmail or any of their Google accounts. Try clearing history/cookies/cache and also sign out of any Google accounts for better results.
Another option is to try from Google chrome incognito mode.
Just click on the tools option on the right top corner of Chrome and then click on New incognito window.
I believe the IP address keeps the info for 180 days- and search results are pulled from pages relevant to your history. Isincognito and private browser the only way to stop that com happening? Or will clearing your history do this as well, I can't imagine it would.
I googled how to get rid of search history and found where google stores it. You have to really look to find it as it is not with the regular history. Then you can opt out of it too at the site.
Welcome to the wild and wacky world of Google personalized results, which has been quietly serving up different search results to each and every computer since 2009.
One thing I'm not quite sure about.
Is Google just using our search history when signed in to Google on any computer to serve up personalized results? Or is it actually putting a cookie on each computer, following our web browsing and activities on any site with a Google button or Google service (YouTube, Picasa, etc), and tailoring search results to what's been viewed on that computer in the past?
I think it's just the former, but I'm not 100% sure.
Also, as you know, personalized results are further obscured by the fact that Google layers in local results, slanting search results to match geographic location.
As a result, I really don't pay much attention to Google rankings: they are theoretical, and in the real world are different for every single web user. Instead I just watch the bottom line, traffic.
I've always been told that Google uses your IP address to personalise results - and browser history if you're using Chrome.
Since I got rid of history and opted out, my search results are no longer personalized. Somehow they still the city where I live.
Once I logout from my gmail account and checked the Google ranking, it has gone back to 3rd page. So obviously it is something to do with personalized results. Greekgeek mentioned a good point, don't care much the ranking but the traffic. Thanks all for the help.
This is how you can turn off search history personalization
https://support.google.com/accounts/answer/54048?hl=en
To have unbiased search results on Google, use Firefox with the 'SEO Global For Google Search' installed. This extension was previously called 'Google Global.'
https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefo … gle-global
When that is installed, type the URL for Google's encrypted search into the Firefox browser:
https://encrypted.google.com
This will allow you to see Google.com search results without your personal history involved.
Then, type a search query into the Google form and click enter. When you are on a search results page, click the 'SEO Global' icon which looks like a butterfly on the top left of your screen. From there, you can change the location of the search request to: USA, UK, Ireland, Canada or Australia.
Since most visitors to HubPages are from the USA, that is the location you should choose to see your Hub's ranking for a search query.
When I do this, I get a message that says please navigate to a search page before using this extension, but I am already on a search page when this happens!
Its different because Google already knows you that when you search that term you will click that link.
I give a task from the same pc try different countries of google, this you will see it really different depends on the searches made by people of that country.
Google.fr, Google.de, Google.co.uk, Google.co.ma, and Google.com. You will definitely ser a slightly difference.
This is the very reason that I use a different browser, which I've never used to log into Google or visit any of my pages, to check how I'm doing with search terms.
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