Strange Behaviour - Varying rankings across browsers and devices
-
Hello,
I noticed something quite strange over the last week with one of my keywords. I'll explain the lead up to this so it makes more sense.
I started SEO work for a client about 3 months ago. One of the keywords I'm trying to increase their ranking for is "auto body calgary". I made a specific landing page for this keyword so it could be better targeted. After I made this landing page I saw their root domain (not the landing page) increase about 10 rankings to number 9 in 2 months. It hung at number 9 for about a month, and then the last month it has decreased to rank 15. For interest sake I searched "auto body calgary" on multiple computers and browsers. On one of the computers I used Safari and my landing page showed up in the number 2 position. On my mobile phone and personal laptop I used Safari and it showed to root domain ranked at 15. I used Google to search every time and wasn't logged in to my Google account on either of the searches. The only thing I've done in the last month is updated some of their directory submissions so they are more consistent.
Out of this I have two questions:
-
Why would different browsers show considerably different rankings and pages for a keyword?
-
Since my landing page is more targeted to "auto body calgary" is Google trying to show that page instead of the root domain? (my root domain has considerably more authority than this landing page)
Thanks to anyone who can offer insight!
-
-
Great thanks Moosa,
I'll stick to that standardized query and that should help with the inconsistencies.
-
Hey Federico,
Thanks for the response.
I think sticking to that standardized query will be the way to go. I guess at the end of the day it's just odd behaviour.
-
In my opinion results can be different for different devices and this is because Google see a website for desktop different and for a mobile the algos react differently to a website!
If you are facing different results on multiple browsers than this must be the search history or personalized results. I would recommend you what Fede said!
Use this query (https://www.google.com/search?q=auto%20body%20calgary&gl=us&pws=0) and you will see the standard results instead of personalised ones!
hope this helps!
-
Ohhh the 1 million question... Why Google show different results depending on the browser, computer, connections, etc...?
It is certainly known that Google WILL show what "he" thinks might be more useful to the user searching. They DO track what you searched, visited, etc, even if you are not logged in, they WILL deliver personalized results based on several (yet unknown) variables, some are location, device, browser, etc. You can even search with the same account, computer and different browsers and get different results, for some reason they think a search within the same device, and account, but with a different browser should deliver different results (this isn't always the case, but in my experience I found this kind of results regularly). The device is "understandable", pages may look different in different devices, so perhaps a page that is ranking well on a desktop, doesn't rank too well on a mobile device as it may be "unreadable" while on an iphone (for example). So is the location, they want to deliver more local results, and that is also understandable.
What I would suggest is this cases, is that you take ONE of the ways you track and then stick to it to run your reports, Moz uses (I think) this type of query: https://www.google.com/search?q=auto body calgary&gl=us&pws=0 (I almost find the same results as they report using that).
To answer your second question, it is also kind of a mystery, we cannot control what Google shows, and they will show what they think is for the best interest of the user. So even if you create a landing page for a specific word, that word SERP may show your homepage instead of the page you created or the other way around... Who knows...
Got a burning SEO question?
Subscribe to Moz Pro to gain full access to Q&A, answer questions, and ask your own.
Browse Questions
Explore more categories
-
Moz Tools
Chat with the community about the Moz tools.
-
SEO Tactics
Discuss the SEO process with fellow marketers
-
Community
Discuss industry events, jobs, and news!
-
Digital Marketing
Chat about tactics outside of SEO
-
Research & Trends
Dive into research and trends in the search industry.
-
Support
Connect on product support and feature requests.
Related Questions
-
Keyword Rank Dip - Estimated Wait Time to Return to Higher Spot?
The organic traffic to our site (fairly new) took a ~50% hit about a month ago due to the drop in our most important keyword. The numbers have come back up and are now exceeding the number before the dip. While this is all fine and dandy, we're still not ranking in the top 50 for our most valuable keyword. We've put out a number of guest post on reputable outside sites and are building a regular cadence of those posts, but my question is, what is the realistic wait time for those organic rankings to increase again?
Reporting & Analytics | | smf434340 -
Longevity of robot.txt files on Google rankings
This may be a difficult question to answer without a ton more information, but I'm curious if there's any general thought that could shed some light on the following scenario I've recently heard about and wish to be able to offer some sound advice: An extremely reputable non-profit site with excellent ranking had gone through a re-design and change-over into WordPress. A robots.txt file was used during development on the dev site on the dev server. Two months later it was noticed through GA that traffic was way down to the site. It was then discovered that the robot.txt file hadn't been removed and the new site (same content, same nav) went live with it in place. It was removed and a site index forced. How long might it take for the site to re-appear and regain past standing in the SERPs if rankings have been damaged. What would the expected recovery time be?
Reporting & Analytics | | gfiedel0 -
Tracking Clicks on a Global Header Across Multiple Sites
Hey All, A particular client has multiple websites and we're planning on implementing a global header across 15+ sites. I've been looking for a way to track the clicks on this global header across all sites (that is that they are summed up), what's the best way to go about this if I am using Google Analytics (I know Adobe site catalyst could do this no problem with some advanced tweaking), any ideas? I could do the general click tracking route and tag every link but that will only help me if I do that for each site (that being said, if the global header for all sites pulls from a single HTML, then tagging it would technically count all the clicks from all the sites, the only caveat being that I'd have to pick which Google analytics profile I'd want to track the header with). Thoughts? Thanks!
Reporting & Analytics | | EvansHunt0 -
Why is my Domain Authority dropping from 52 to 46 but my Keyword ranking has never been higher?
At the start of August my Domain Authority was 52 but it has fallen to 46 over the course of 8 weeks. At first this was credited to the smaller index that SEOMOZ has taken and when this was certainly in line with our rivals results as well who all suffered a drop. When the index issue was fixed we did see an improvement, back up to 51 at the start of September, pretty much in line with all of our rivals. However our Domain Authority has dropped again and this time it is in complete isolation, none of our rivals have suffered anything like a 3 point drop. Our SEO has never been better with 65% of our keywords ranking in the top 3 and 86% ranking in the top 10. Im wondering what is causing this rapid drop in Domain Authority and what affect, if any, it was have on our future keyword rankings. Thanks, Emmet
Reporting & Analytics | | CertificationEU0 -
Rankings UP, rankings DOWN - why?
Last week, I had 14 keywords go up and less than 5 go down. I was so thrilled! Except this week, I had 10 go up and 14 go down! How can I figure out what is going on? I am up and down 30+ spots with Google. I'd really like to stay up. My site is pretty new, just a few months. I am still fiddling around with settings trying to follow all the advice I read. (robot meta tags, title tag) I didn't change any content in the last week. Does SEOmoz analyze the ranking data?
Reporting & Analytics | | dealblogger0 -
Woes in organic ranking... Post Penguin issue?
Hello all, First post here. Site:http://www.symbolphoto.com I'd done a ton of work to get my SEO where it needs to be, however, after looking at my traffic post April 15-22nd, it's gone completely downhill. I don't rank organically, which i'd like for one single term 'b*ston wedding photographer'. What am i missing? I'm assuming Penguin may be a part of this, but i haven't participated in any link schemes... am i being penalized and if so, is it evident why? Help is much appreciated! replace * with o.
Reporting & Analytics | | symbolphoto0 -
Tool to check pervious rankings for a keyword ?
I am looking a tool/site to check ranking history of specifc keyword . Is this possible ? Thanks
Reporting & Analytics | | bfletc40 -
Ranking on page 1 position 3 but hardley any visits
in one of my projects the expected vistors is around 23000 weve got the keyword onto the first page position 3 and weve only recieved 30 vistits this month, my qustion is why? are the local searches from google analtics that tell you thier are 23000 searches for that keyword false please can someone shed some light on this, my client is totally over the moon with his ranking but cant believe that hes only recieving 30 visits this month from what we thought was a million dollar keyword
Reporting & Analytics | | Westernoriental0