SEO Moz ranking reports

[casper434]

I am confused. The SEO Moz ranking reports state that my site show show up in a specific position in SERP for a specific keyword yet when I google the keyword the ranking is different. Are these ranking reports merely indicative or are they supposed to be accurate?

[SuperlativB]

Great answer! I did know about Google personalization but the IPS was new to me. Thanks Egol!

[casper434]

This provides a perspective that I had not thought of. In essence the SEO Moz rankings, therefore, must be predictive but not based on actual rankings

[EGOL]

There are a lot of different factors that can produce different SERPs for a single query.

First... you probably know about "personalization".... If you are logged into a google service your SERPs will be influenced by your previous browsing.

Second... google is constantly running a lot of experimental SERPs.  These can deliver very unusual results and could account for 10% or more of the SERPs served on any given day.  (Read the book "in the Plex" if you want to learn more about this - great book BTW - will help you understand Google)

Now, here is my experience....

I can search at my office using different browsers on same computer (chrome, firefox, internet explorer and safari) and see different SERPs.   Then I can remote connect to my home on the other side of a small town on a different ISP and get still different results.  Then get out my iphone and see different results there...and different results still on my ipad (different ISPs).  I can see many different SERPs without leaving my chair.

Results are most similar using generic informational queres such as "mars rover" and vary enormously  when I search for something that might have local variations such as "pizza".

There isn't a "standard google SERP".

I use the SEOmoz ranking reports to track progress over time, knowing that most people will see something different when they query.