This post was originally created back in the spring of 2009. I had driven up to Phoenix to attend an SEO Meet-up group. The topic was “What are some of your favorite internet marketing resources.”  During the discussion it was mentioned that Google results may very. I found the information shared in this post so important that I have shared it on several hundred social media websites. Today, I have added another update about a real life version of this story.

The original version was titled ‘You May Not Be Ranking As Well In The Google Results As You Think.” What I discovered is that most people will be ranking higher than they think. I will explain.

If you are a website owner with an interest in internet marketing you may be getting inaccurate Google search results. Google changed how it delivers its search results a few years back. They call this personalized search and it works when you are logged into a Google account.

Here is what is occurring with personalized searches. If you are like many marketers and website owners you may be a little bit obsessed with how well that your website or sites are ranking in the Google results. This obsession likely causes you to check your search results daily or multiple times each day. This constant checking isn’t a bad thing in and off itself. However, if you start clicking onto any of the websites listed in the results it will alter what you are seeing in its results pages in the future.

The results that you are getting may be false and may not be what others are seeing when they use Google. When you are in one of your Google accounts it records your reactions to its results. Whatever sites that you click on are recorder as a vote of sorts for that website. So if you are click on your website or your competition it eventually will alter the results that Google provides but only to your account.

If you have a habit on clicking onto your own site or the competition when searching from a Google account it will definitely alters the search results that are provided to your account. I was reminded of this fact today. I was checking to see where we were ranking for the search Arizona SEO. We had been ranking in the 10th position. Today, when I checked the results had us at # 1. My first reaction was wow, that a big jump. Then I glanced up to notice that I was in a Google account. As soon as I logged out the results went back to the # 10 position. This is what I had accepted to see.

This can go the other way as well. If you have a habit of clicking on your competitor’s sites while searching it will eventually start ranking them higher than they actually appear to the general public. This is where most of the general public will run into problems with personalized results. They are so used to checking on the competition and this eventually pushes there site down in the search rankings that they are viewing in their Google account.

This also unfortunately offers unscrupulous SEO providers a tool to manipulate potential clients so do beware of this. If some one is providing a demonstration of how well they rank or their clients rank check to see if they are logged into a Google account. So do ask them to show you their results from outside a Google account. The differences can be amazing. Don’t accept no for an answer here. This really is that important.

Just another thing I though that you could use. It is the little things that we have to be aware of that can make a huge difference.

The Update: 01/14/2009

A few weeks back I had a conversation with a potential client. This mans website covered a very niche keyword phrase related to a specific educational program. He stated that even though there was almost no competition for his market that his site was buried on page two of the SERP’s. This is a very common experience for many and that why they call for my assistance.

However, when I searched for his website I discovered that his site was sitting in the fifth position on the first page of the Google search results. The difference here is that he had been using his account to search for his keyword phrase. Then he clicked onto his competitors sites. The result was that these sites improved in his results and his website declined in the rankings. This insight saved him $650.00 as he would not be requiring link building training and a detail website review. He decided that it was OK with being in the 5th position.

I very easily could have kept quiet and accepted this mans business. Then without doing anything I could have showed improved results but I don’t operate that way. Unfortunately, in these tough economic times some will succumb to this temptation.  It really does pay to be cautious when buying internet services. Way too many people are willing to do anything and to tell you anything to make a buck.

The lesson here is to go straight to Google to do your keyword rankings searches. This will give you better and more accurate search results

Here’s some other valuable resources:

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