Google, Google. Where is my site
Fascination with the vagaries of the serp’s has caused me many a sleepless night. I’d bet it has done it’s work on you too. It’s bad enough that we can only make (educated) guesses about the ranking algo’s reaction to a change we make on our page. Now there’s some magic thrown in the mix.
If you’ve been in the optimization business for any length of time, you have witnessed the difference in rankings, for your term, from different locations. I usually attribute the differences to several possible reasons. Chiefly, that there are different data centers involved.
Others that I believe have an effect are: Moon phase, tidal patterns, the delta C in rainfall for the San Fernando Valley, the level of amber liquid in the bottle, and perhaps most important–the number of games of WoW played today.
I just found out yesterday that there is also the possibility of magic being involved. Did I mention that above?
First a little background. Some of you know that I follow the blog posts on SEO Theory. There are several posts there that are related to a difference of opinion between Michael Martinez, of SEO Theory, and Rand Fishkin, of SEOmoz. Now, that may not be precisely true since I haven’t heard Rand say much about the whole deal. In any case, there are some other folks, who I never heard of before, taking one side of the argument, and Michael taking the other.
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Sidebar
I cannot find one good reason to have two links (on my page) pointing to the same other webpage, but with different anchor text. That’s what the argument is all about…whether Google will pass ‘juice’ with the second link. Why is this important?
/Sidebar
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About mid-way down in this post, Mr. Martinez told me something that I had never heard of before. The context of the remark is that not all tests are valid, and that if results are not reproducible, the hypothesis is flawed. So, here is the part that got me:
But we don’t all see the same search engine. In fact, I was both amused and frustrated today by the fact that Google AdWords’ keyword research tool shows query numbers for one of my staff but not me. We use the same network to reach out to the Internet. We’re on the same IP address. I see the numbers from home, but didn’t see them at work.
I’ve been on phone calls and have exchanged emails with clients in the same city who have sworn their sites were at position X in the search results (or nowhere to be seen) while I was looking at their sites in position Y. It doesn’t even have to be a different data center (although usually I assume that’s what we’re seeing). Once in a while I find that someone’s PC has magically reconfigured itself to point at a specific IP address for Google. I’ve never figured out how that happens (as it’s NOT happening in a hosts file).
Worth repeating with emphasis…..I find that someone’s PC has magically reconfigured itself to point at a specific IP address for Google.
Magic indeed. So, what does this have to do with anything?
Assume that you have completed extensive SEO work on a website. You’ve done a craftsmanlike job, all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed. After *whatever* time, you see your site in the Google results pages. You check several queries, make adjustments to your pages, see your rank climbing, and are a happy camper. You believe that your target audience will find your page in approximately the same position as you see it …… bzzzzzit, you lose Sparky. It ain’t necessarily so.
What if Mary WorkingMother, from Des Moines, and Joe GolfNut, from Baton Rouge, have had their PC ‘magically reconfigured’? They may not see your page in the results at all.
How many others are there like that? Is there any way we can find out what percentage of all PC’s are so reconfigured? Is this only a Google phenom? Is it browser related?
Shittah. Questions that I can’t answer. Michael, Rand, any of you others, if you can shed more light on this (either here or in your own venue) I would truly be grateful. If it is to be in your venue, please drop me a note here so I can follow along. T.I.A.
Dink
Comment by Jez
I would imagine its only a lag between servers / datacenters, its not really a “different version” of the SE is it… just a different time… kind of like looking at the stars thru a large telescope
MM has a reputation of being a bit of a troll… deservedly so IMO… certainly seems to have had it in for Rand Fish over the last couple of months.
Comment by Michael Martinez
Well, I don’t know that I could write an entire post on the subject, but apparently it has something to do with how a PC resolves domain names. All our computers are pointed to one or more DNS servers (that’s a bit redundat, don’t you know? DNS Server).
Every now and then, one of my staff will tell me that client site such-and-such is at Google position R, but I see it at Google position T.
There have been times when as many as 3 or 4 people have seen position R while the rest of us see position T.
Sometimes we find that a PC has been configured to point to a very specific DNS server, which in turn only resolves to one Google address (that appears to NOT be a live data center).
However, sometimes we just find that our network traffic is taking two different routes (for reasons our IT staff has not been able to explain to me).
We usually take one of three actions:
1) We reset the miscreant PC’s DNS to use the dynamic configuration on our network
2) We wipe the drive and start over
3) We buy Girl Scout cookies and sacrifice them to dark Muppets, hoping that will redirect the cosmic rays
Whenever this disparity happens with a client, I usually fall back on the, “I can only go by what I see, so I have to treat my results as the more authoritative ones”. While that seems a little hard-edged, over time the different results usually converge to some sort of agreement.
Hope that clarifies things (a little).
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[...] search engine optimization takes you into many different directions. For example, Dink’s SEO blog asked how PCs can magically reconfigure themselves to show you different search results. It’s happened here at work more than once for what [...]
Comment by Dink
@Jez..
>>I would imagine its only a lag between servers / datacenters …
That’s what I always thought too. It would seem that there is more to it than that. I think it requires more investigation.
@Michael..
Domain name resolution. Now that’s a pregnant suggestion. I wonder what combination of DNServers Google has working for it. If a pc is pointed at a specific dns and “that appears to NOT be a live data center” would go a long way in explaining this phenom.
>>We buy Girl Scout cookies and sacrifice them to dark Muppets, hoping that will redirect the cosmic rays…
Aha. I’ve left off the Muppets portion of that. Time for a new plan.
Seriously, thanks for your thoughts and explanation. There may be even more unusual events at play here. Study (and try to understand) will be my watch word on this.
Comment by Michael Martinez
@jez: “MM has a reputation of being a bit of a troll… deservedly so IMO”
And yet you’re the one attacking someone who has never done anything hostile toward you.
@dink: Be careful not to let your blog become a playground for flame wars. People will abuse the privileges you extend to them if you let them.
Comment by SEO Boot Camp
hmmm, strange things happen in this world.
“That’s not where I left my keys, did you move them?”
Did that ever happen to you?
Anyways, I first thing that came to my mind while reading this post, is that everyone is using so many Google-based tools, that Google recognizes a PC (from a cookie or some other way), and treats that pc differently from other pcs.
People using Google’s personalized search will definitely be getting different results.
The first solution that comes to mind for someone that has SEO clients would be to setup a tool on a non-company server that is used by all staff and all clients for checking Google SERPs, in fact, I would restrict that particular site/tool so that it ONLY displays Google SERPs.
Michael, DNS means Domain Name System, therefore, “DNS server” is not redundant.
I guess I should check out your blog.
Bompa
Comment by SEO Boot Camp
NO LINK? THAT’S DISGUSTING, ARE YOU TRYING TO RUIN THE WEB?
Comment by Dink
@ Michael… Yes. I don’t like to edit the comments placed by visitors. I like flame wars even less, so if I have to I’ll delete a comment rather than allow a war to start. In this case, I knew that you and I both know the source or the ‘troll’ comment, so I let it stand.
To any others reading and having questions about the ‘trollability’ of Mr. Martinez’s posts, I suggest that you should go read his blog. Read it with your full attention. You won’t be sorry you did. Unless you don’t like to admit that the drivel you get from *some sources* is merely recycled drivel.
In case you missplaced the link, here it is again. SEO Theory - SEO Theory and Analysis Blog
Comment by Dink
Hey Bomps. Yes, I think you would be surprised at what you can find on the SEO Theory blog. Straight thinking, written in an easy to understand manner, and no bullshit.
No Link? Disgusting? WhatchaTalkinAbout mango?
Did you mean this link Blackhat Movie ?
Or this one Blackhat Blog ?
Shameless link beggar. rofl
Comment by Michael Martinez
I’ll try to keep the “DNS = Domain Name System” point in mind. Thanks.
Google-based tools will probably become more and more common and popular, as Google does seem to have taken the lead in producing free analytics tools. I see more things come from Google than from other sources of which I am aware.
Comment by SEO Boot Camp
Well, I was expecting my name “SEO Boot Camp” to be linked, whatever.
Michael’s blog is worthy, but over my head.
Bompa
**edited by Dink**
Comment by Dink
Bomps…I edited your last comment to include the linky.
Note. Links are allowed in the comments (unless I decide to delete same) and are ‘do follow’ tagged.
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Comment by Gab Goldenberg
Dink, Mike - either of you two care to have some fun with me and validate my first ever experiment?
Cheers
Gab
Comment by Dink
What do you have in mind Gab?