Rankings changing every couple of MINUTES in Google?
-
We've been experiencing some unusual behaviour in the Google.co.uk SERPs recently...
Basically, the ranking of some of our websites for certain keywords appears to be changing by the minute.
For example, doing a search for "our keyword" might show us at #20. Then a few minutes later, doing the same search shows us at #14, and then the same search a few minutes later shows us at #26, and then sometimes we're not ranked at all, etc etc.
I know the algorithm changes a lot, but does it really change every couple of minutes?
Has anyone else experienced this kind of behaviour in the SERPs?
What could be causing it to happen?
-
Hi D4,
Rankings are affected by a host of factors, not the least of which are personalization and localization. Given that different people search for different things in the normal course of things, it is quite likely that two different people searching on different computers will get different results.
I would be very cautious about conducting repetitive searches every few minutes as you have described, because in the end, it could be you and your helpers that are influencing what you see in the rankings!
It is important to remember that Google and Bing both utilize click through data from the SERPs to inform rankings. Every time your site is returned in the results, but not clicked-through and every time a searcher clicks through, but quickly returns to the search engine, Google and Bing are gathering information that suggests your site is not seen as relevant or helpful by searchers. Constantly running redundant searches like this could eventually have a negative impact for your site.
I would say that you might be better served by conducting an in depth analysis of the pages concerned and putting the focus on improving them. If you get this aspect right, rankings and traffic will improve naturally over time.
Hope that helps,
Sha
-
@Rick Maggio: We've seen this happening from the same browser, as well as from different browsers, all of which came from the same IP address. I've just tested it from home, and I'm unable to reproduce the problem. It seems unlikely that it's IP-related?
@remco t hart: Interesting theory about the data centers. I would've thought that Google would be using some sort of "sticky sessions" whereby all queries made from a particular IP address would be served from the same data center, but I suppose Google could be using a "round robin" approach whereby each request gets sent to a random data center regardless of IP address.
To give a little more background on the issue... the keyword that we were checking is one that we used to rank really well for a few months ago before we launched a massive re-design of the website. Since the re-design, we've dropped off the rankings completely for this keyword - that is, until today when I just checked it on a whim and saw that we were #26. A few minutes later, someone else in the office checked it and we were nowhere to be found. Then I checked again a few minutes later, and we were #20. Then I checked again a few minutes later and we were nowhere.
Bizarre.
It makes me think that Google might be "testing the waters" by slowly re-introducing our website back into the SERPs and seeing how it performs on CTR and other user-experience metrics?
-
Curious if you check your rankings that often? Must drive you crazy!
I really only look at webmaster tool data as search is personalized, localized, etc. Are you looking from the same browser each time (like just refreshing the page)?
-
I might be have more to do that google has different data centers around the world and maybe giving different data some times. Do you have this problem for a long time? I am asking this because i had this but after a few weeks it stopped and my search rankings where steady.
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
-
Are we confusing Google with our internal linking?
Hi all, We decided to give importance to one of our top pages as it has "keyword" in it's slug like website.com/keyword. So we internally linked even from different sub-domain pages more than homepage to rank for that "keyword". But this page didn't show up in Google results for that "keyword"; neither homepage, but our login page is ranking. We wonder why login page is ranking. Has our internal linking plan confused Google to ignore homepage to rank for that primary keyword? And generally do we need to internally link homepage more than anyother page? Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | vtmoz0 -
Google Open Graph
Hi I wanted to find out what makes Google select a site to show the answer to a question you type in search? For example, typing What is COSHH, brings up this site http://rospaworkplacesafety.com/2013/01/08/what-is-coshh-about-coshh/ and this answer top of Google SERPs. COSHH stands for 'Control of Substances Hazardous to Health' and under the Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations 2002, employers need to either prevent or reduce their workers' exposure to substances that are hazardous to their health.8 Jan 2013 Is it their open graph mark up only? Becky
Algorithm Updates | | BeckyKey0 -
Google update January 2015
Hello, In January 2015, google changed its European Algorithm. The change decreased the ranking of some of our keywords but not all. See article for more evidence in google changing its algorithm. https://www.seroundtable.com/google-update-maybe-19760.html The biggest change was the keyword phrase ‘Wholesale Silver Jewellery’ which we ranked 1 in SERP, but now we’re nowhere to be seen. However, the change didn’t affect our keyword phrase ‘Wholesale Jewellery Silver’, ’Wholesale Silver’ and ‘Wholesale Jewellery. We’ve been through our data and see that all of our ’Silver Jewellery’ keyword phrases are no longer showing in the SERP. Further research has shown that our competitors were also dropped down the rankings for the same keyword phrase. Our question is: Why has this update affected certain keyword phrases, such as ‘silver jewellery’ but not ‘jewellery silver’ and how should we over come this? Additional Information
Algorithm Updates | | SilverStar1
If you type in our company name ‘Mainly Silver’ or ‘mainlysilver’ were still showing in SERP, however if you type ‘mainlysilver jewellery’ we’re no where to be found. We’ve even checked ‘site:mainlysilver.co.uk silver jewellery’ in google search and it returns with ‘no results found’. If you switch the keyword phrase, all our web pages are showing up Our website is - www.mainlysilver.co.uk0 -
Local Vs National SEO Rankings
Hi Guys, I just had a quick question, is it truly possible to rank number one worldwide/nationally for a keyword phrase these days such as, Computer repair services. I'm not too concerned with the local serps that come up above the fold. I'm just more concerned, if Google is looking to serve more local results into the regular serps listing? I hope that makes sense thanks. Best, Peter
Algorithm Updates | | PeterRota0 -
How do I separate 2 Google+ business listings?
Ever since Google Places started merging with Google+, my client's business listing is now showing up in local search results incorrectly under another business name who shares the same address as them. Has anyone else encountered this problem or a way to correct it?
Algorithm Updates | | TheeDigital0 -
Why is this site ranking 1st?
I'm a relative SEO newbie, so please go easy on me. I've been an SEOMOZ pro user for a few months and have used it to dramatically improve my organic rankings. However, for the life of me, I cannot determine why the site that currently ranks number one, does so. For the factors I can determine, they shouldn't be ranking where they are, but reality is different. Could someone please offer me some ideas? My target keyword is "photography classes edmonton" My site is www.bsop.ca and I'm targetting the Google Canada engine. Any and all assistance is appreciated.
Algorithm Updates | | pburwell0 -
Data on Google Vs Bing, et al and changes to sites.
I am curious to know if anyone has any data that correlates site/page changes like content or Title Tag, H1, etc. and subsequent movement in rankings on Google and Bing and Yahoo? The equation is for example: ABCSite.com/home-page/ makes a change to the H1 and H2 and one paragraph of content is changed. Over next 6 to 12 weeks changes in page rank for the 3 engines is tracked to see where it started and where it "stopped." Obviously, there are more factors than individual algorithms in play here. An example of that would be that a significant number of sites will be indexed in Google by a dev and not in the others. We see this regularly. So, at least from a timing standpoint, different sites are entering/leaving the fray at different rates. We are going to begin to track this but I would love to see any data already around or speak with anyone involved in such a study about what they found. Thanks
Algorithm Updates | | RobertFisher0 -
Google results on an Ipad 2
Has anyone else seen different google organic results for a site when viewing on an Ipad compared to computer browser ? I've just checked a site and were no1 on google when searched on the Ipad 2 but when searched on my Macbook we are page 2 ? Could this just be different data centers or do google serve up different results to the 2 devices ? Would be really interested to know if anyone else has seen this. JP
Algorithm Updates | | Prongo0