Why Moz Rank tracker's results are different from results search in browser?

[thmavri]

I would like to perform a competitor rank analysis in Google.gr . I have noticed that the results from the rank tracker for Google.gr are different than the results in Google.gr from a machine located in Greece with no Google account logged in.

Could you inform me why such a behavior occurs?

[SamuelScott]

My apologies -- I think I was not very clear. Here's what I mean. You have two search activities going on:

Someone not in Greece looking at non-personalized search results for Greece for keyword X. This will give you one set of results.

Someone in Greece doing a search for X. The results will still be based on that individual person's own search history. Even if there is no Google account logged in, Google still has information on prior searches and more for that IP address, browser, and probably a lot more. So, the search results will still be "personalized" to an extent.

Now, I would imagine that if the second person would also use non-personalized search results for Greece, then the results should be very similar.

Does this help?

[thmavri]

I know that differences exist but they should not be very large scale if you use incognito mode, non-personalized.

Thanks for your answer.

[SamuelScott]

Thmavri, I do not work for Moz and cannot speak for the company, but I thought I'd respond.

It is impossible for anyone -- me, you, Moz, or anyone else outside of Google -- to know exactly how a given website is ranking with 100% certainty. Even using URL parameters and other methods to incorporate non-personalized results for a certain geographic area is not going to be completely accurate. All ranking tools can only give good approximations at best.

The reason is that there is really no such thing as a "website rank." Google is aiming to deliver the most-relevant results on an individual basis for each person based on search history, device, location, Google+ activity, time of day, and countless other factors that we don't know. In short, every individual person will see different search results.

So, I'd use your ranking tool of choice to get a good estimation of a site's ranking. But don't depend on it 100%.

[Kingof5]

Moz claims to report the average position that most people will see, but there are tons of factors that go into how SERPs appear for you.

Personally, I find Moz's ranking reports to be reasonably accurate most of the time. Then there are occasions where they report all my keywords dropping out of the top 50 when none of them moved more than 2-3 positions up or down. So take what it says with a grain of salt.

For rank tracking purposes, I use a Chrome incognito window with no history, not logged in, and location set to United States. As long as you're tracking with the same method over time, your results should be pretty reliable.