I am going to share something really interesting in this post. You may already know that Google search results vary slightly based on your sign-in condition. If you are logged into any Google products (Google Drive, Google Sheets, Gmail, Youtube or Apps) then you will see a result that will not be similar when you are going to perform same search and you are not logged into a Google product. That’s the fact, you can check yourself. First try a search when you are signed into Gmail. Now please log out from your Gmail account and clear your browser history. After that, try same search, you must see different results in this occasion. This is just one scenario but there are some other strategies that Google utilize and for that you might see different results for your search.
Google is showing different rankings based on:
- 1. Your login condition
- 2. Country domain. (If you search on Google.com and then perform similar search in Google.com.bd then you will see different results. Based on Google country domain, results will vary)
- 3. Based on the content you shared! (This is new that I have found out today)
Please note, Google results will not vary based on your browsers. You might have Firefox, Safari, Chrome, IE or Opera installed in your PC. You can check a search query let’s say “SEO Expert” in different browsers. All will show you same results for “SEO Expert” if you have performed that search after clearing browser(s) histories/cookies. I am telling you this because there are many people who still believe that Google search results vary based on browsers! Which is not true.
Google is showing different results based on the content you shared!
So here is the test I performed earlier and I want you to test this as well!
1. First I cleared the history of my Opera browser. You can quickly clear your Opera browser’s history by pressing Shift + Control + Delete buttons. A pop up window will appear, make sure you have chosen “the beginning of time“
2. Then I visited Google.com; as I am living in Bangladesh, Google redirected Google.com domain to Google.com.bd but I made sure I had selected Google.com instead of Google.com.bd! If you are living in Australia and you enter Google.com in your browser then it will take you to Google.com.au instead of Google.com; I hope you already aware of this function. So make sure you have selected Google.com instead of Google’s country domain
In case you are not sure how to do that then please check lower right corner of your browser and you will see a text link that says “Use Google.com“. Click on that link. It will take you to Google.com from Google’s country domain.
3. Yesterday (27-05-2015) I published an article called “What to do if LinkedIn Account is Restricted“. So I want to check whether this article is ranked in Google.com by searching “LinkedIn Account is Restricted” (this was my targeted keyword). As you can see my content is not ranked for this keyword in Google.com
But it is ranked in Google.com.bd already, showing at number seven position! I didn’t create any back links for this content yet. But seems it is ranked organically without having any incoming links.
4. Now I want to check this while I am logged into Gmail. So I log into my Gmail account and then perform same search “Linkedin Account is Restricted” in Google.com
Oops! What’s that? I shared that article in my Google plus profile today around 9 hours ago but how my Google+ post is showing at number 2 position in Google.com? Sounds not right. So I performed same search in Google.com.bd (Remember this time I am logged into Gmail account) and found similar results
This is suspicious right? So I told one of my employees to clear browser history of his opera and check “linkedin account is restricted” keyword in Google.com (I was standing behind his desk as I was super curious!!!). He got same results that I received in Step 3. That time I told him to login to his Gmail and perform same search. So he signed into his Gmail account and then again searched “linkedin account is restricted”
As you can see, my Google+ post is not showing at this time. So I told him to perform same search in “Google.com.bd“. Here is the result he received from Google.com.bd!
While I was checking in Google.com.bd my Google+ post was in number two position, not the original content from my blog (When I was not logged into Gmail and performed that search it showed at number 7 position, not in number 1 remember)! You can check Step 4. So what it proves? I am little confused! I need to check it again tomorrow.
Today is 28-05-2015
Today again I clear my opera’s history to check “linkedin account is restricted” in Google.com.bd and Google.com and find similar results like yesterday (step 3). I then check from my employee’s PC, same results. I then ask him to log into his Gmail and check in Google.com.bd, he sees my blog content is at number one position, nothing changed. I then return to my desk, log into my Gmail and perform same search in Google.com and Google.com.bd. Same results, my Google+ content is showing at number two position.
I have another Gmail account. So I clear my opera’s history again and login to that Gmail. Then I perform same search in Google.com.bd as well as Google.com. In Google.com, my blog content or Google+ post are not ranked (This is fine, I expected that). However in Google.com.bd, my blog content is showing at number eight position today (it was in 7th position yesterday).
Still I have no clue why my employee is getting my blog content at 1st position while he is logged into his Gmail and performed search in Google.com.bd.
It clearly indicates that:
- 1. Google shows different results for a person who is logged into a Google product than a person who is not logged into a Google product.
- 2. Google might show different results for different individuals when they are logged into their Gmail accounts.
- 3. Google results vary when a person is performing search in Google.com and other country domain i.e. Google.com.bd
- 4. Google shows different results when a person shares something on his Google+ profile (he might see his own Google+ post in search result) than another person who didn’t share that same post in his Google+ profile.
Google search and rank factor is quite difficult to understand. I am still confused why does my employee see my blog content at 1st position while he is logged into his Gmail (It should be at 8th position in my opinion). Do you know something about this? Please feel free to share through comments! Thanks and I am really looking forward to your comments!
Nice article! I didn’t know that Google shows different results based on Google+ post. I found something completely new here. Thanks for sharing valuable information.
Howdy terrific website! Does running a blog like this require a massive amount work? I have absolutely no knowledge of computer programming however I had been hoping to start my own blog in the near future.
Anyway, should you have any ideas or tips for new blog owners please share. I understand this is off subject nevertheless I simply needed to ask. Thanks!
Hoodie Shirts, your comment seems like a spam. Please don’t ask unrelated questions. I am not sure how Akismet passed your comment but I will make sure to block such comments next time. Sorry!
I also didn’t know that Sanzid. Luckily I noticed the factor and I thought to write an article about it. It’s good to know that you have found this post very helpful. Try visiting our blog more often. We will bring new posts like this one in the near future!
Good day! This is my first visit to your blog! I would say this is very strange that Google shows results based on the Google+ post! Wonderful finding. You have done a scrutiny job!
Ha Ha Ha 🙂 I like your comment Christian. I didn’t know I have scrutiny power! Welcome to our blog and hope you will enjoy your time here. Thanks for your funny comment 🙂