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WHY Do The Google Results Keep Changing??!?!
Has this ever happened to you? You’re sitting there with your keyword list and searching Google for each phrase in quotes to get an idea of the competition. You search a phrase, get the number of web pages from Google, jot it down and then move on. Then, maybe later that day, or heck, even a few minutes later, you search Google again for the SAME KEYWORD PHRASE and get a totally DIFFERENT number of web pages from Google. Why oh WHY does that happen? Did you do your search wrong the first time? Which number is accurate? Let’s take a moment to talk about this…
Google and Search Results – What the Heck Is Happening?
We internet marketers spend a lot of time doing our keyword research and then going to Google to check the phrases in quotes to see the competing pages. Yes, it takes a while, but keyword research is a big part of what we do so we either do it, or get someone to do it FOR us. Anyway, folks are typing their phrase in quotes in Google and getting a number showing the amount of other web pages Google has indexed that contain that exact phrase. I don’t know if you’ve ever clicked search again for that same phrase search, but it is VERY likely that the next time you search, the number of web pages will change… and sometimes it changes DRASTICALLY.
What the heck is going on???
This situation has been a big topic of conversation lately both in the Wealthy Affiliate forum and in help desk ticket questions asked to me. In fact, I recently highly recommended a keyword service to my readers that is just awesome and SUCH a time saver.
Thing is tho, when folks opened their daily list of hot niche keywords, they would check Google and get different results than what was shown in their daily list. In fact, if they checked again a few minutes after the first check, they would get a new number AGAIN. It’s crazy, isn’t it?
What in the world is happening?
I answered a fellow Wealthy Affiliate member in a thread that was started out of sheer frustration over this situation. I pretty much told him that NOTHING about Google is static. The Google index changes by the second….literally.
Think about it for a minute…
Right now, at this exact second, do you think there is someone in the world who is bookmarking a web page? Maybe making a blog post like I am? Perhaps publishing a Squidoo lens or syndicating an article?
Do you think, that right NOW there is someone in the world who just typed a link to another web page somewhere on the internet? Perhaps someone somewhere is typing a public forum post? Listing an auction on eBay? Typing a review on Amazon.com?
You betcha!
In fact, thousands and thousands of people all over the world are doing all of those things above every single second of every single day. What happens when these things happen? The Google bots head out and find these new links and new content…and… the Google index changes.
When I stop for a moment and just think about the sheer volume of what Google is trying to index, I am AMAZED and in absolute awe.
Nothing about the Google index stays the same from one minute to the next.
So Which Google Result Is Right?
This is something I failed to mention in my forum post. Thankfully, someone that I think the world of made a quick video for those that get the hot niche keyword lists that explains it perfectly. So, instead of me rambling on and on, I am just going to put that video right here for you to watch.
It just might be your daily “A-Ha!” moment.
So, did you say, “Ohhhhhhhhhh, that makes sense!” too? If you’re interested you can click here to learn about the keyword lists he is talking about.
On Another Note:
I am so super excited about tomorrow night. Those of you that are on my subscriber list know that tomorrow night (July 30th at 8pm EST), I will be a guest host on a live webinar with Ryan Moran and Matt Davis! I haven’t done anything live yet and their invitation to me thrills me to death!
Webinars are something I’d like to add to my own online stuff, but I’m totally NOT a tech person so I’ve shied away from it up to this point. Hopefully, this experience with Matt and Ryan will go well and I’ll be comfortable to start doing my own webinars.
Tomorrow night should be really cool, tho. It will seriously be a 100% help session for anyone who has questions about making money online. Two hours of YOUR questions and our combined answers. How cool is that!??!
The webinar is open to everyone and anyone….and it’s totally free. If you’d like to join in – or even reserve your spot early – just go to IM-Webinars.com and get signed up. I’m hoping for a BIG crowd so we can all learn from each other.
The webinar is Thursday, July 30th at 8PM EST (New York/Atlanta time) Hope to see you there!
I’m In The Mood To Celebrate!
This weekend also marks my one year anniversary of being a Wealthy Affiliate member. Wow, time flies…feels like just yesterday I was sitting at oceans edge making the decision to join Wealthy Affiliate… and now it’s a YEAR later.
My personal anniversary with WA is very special to me and puts me in the mood to do something really cool for my subscribers. I’ve been wracking my little pea brain to come up with something awesome that can really help some folks out….so keep an eye on your inbox for my anniversary celebration notice 😉
Ok, that’s it from me for today. Thank you to Travis for that really helpful and insightful video! Hope to see everyone tomorrow night at the webinar!
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Nice service. Keyword research really takes a lot of time, especially when you try to dig out the real good ones. If the keyword list is good then the money is well spent.
Gunter
I also know that there are different results based upon geographic regions. I am in CA and my friend lives in NY. His site shows up in a different spot on my search than when he searches. Google also admitted that is the case based on the regions.
Looking forward to tonights Webinar. Good Luck J. You can do it.
Hi, Jennifer,
Thanks for the information on Google ranks. It really does make sense, since Google is not a static service. Congrats on your Wealthy Affiliate University anniversary. For financial reasons, I had to drop WA for a while, but I hope to get back to it soon. I will be listening at the Webinar. Best wishes!
Linda
David,
You may wish to tell your friend to sign out of his Google account before making his search. There is the possibility that he’s seeing personalized search at work.
He likely visits his own site regularly, and so Google would see that as a site that he must like, and therefore may display higher in the rankings for him. Seen many occasions where someone thinks they have a high ranking until they sign out of their Google account.
Thank you Chris. That makes perfect sense and I am kicking myself for not thinking about that.
The video was really helpful to me. Great job! Thanks PotPie
Hi Jennifer,
I have experienced google’s fluctuating results for what seems to be about 2 months now.
I understand how and why that would happen… within reason, but what I have seen could not possibly be from new content, backlinks, lenses or posts combined.
I’ve not only seen this happen while using quotes to estimate competing pages, but I’ve also seen it using the allintitle: results.
Last Friday I used it for a keyword phrase that showed 1760 pages.
Fortunately I was documenting all of my results which is why I would not be talked out of it (in my own mind) the way I was the first few times it happened to me. lol
A few minutes later the exact same phrase showed 32,600 and it has hovered there ever since with one exception. My son (age 28) using his ipod did the search for me and the first time it showed 1590 and the next 32,600.
He took screen shots for me because I originally was going to send them to google and ask them what was going on, but when I attempted to contact them and realized that they have various gatekeepers, such as forums to help people get answers to their questions, I aborted the mission.
The next day I received Travis’s video so at least I knew I wasn’t the only one experiencing these inconsistent results.
Thanks for confirming theory, Jennifer. I also want to thank you for all the hard work you put in trying to help all of us. It has been really beneficial. Over the years I have tried many different times to earn money online. I have earned roughly $1,500 dollars total and it was very sporadic and spread out across 3 years or so. Since, I have been following you and Travs I have had a much more focused approach. I have been able to identify good keywords, build backlinks, and see my “sites” climb to the first page in google. I see this as progress, but I haven’t been able to generate consistent income. I am not sure if that is because the niche’s I choose just are not the best to make money from or if it is my content. I have two sites going right now. One is complete and the other is built and I am in the process of building links and submitting articles. I was hoping you or maybe one of your successful followers could take a look at them and point me in the right direction. My email is sandsdelmarva@aol.com, and the sites are http://jobs-in-houston-texas.info , and http://howtobuildyourownsolarpanel.x10hosting.com . Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Like you so clearly explained, this is not google fluctuating. This is google functioning perfectly in real time. Geographically, google results also differ and sometimes drastically. That’s why, for my research purposes, I try to get US results as these tend to be more influential in terms of volume of qualified returns.
Look, we seem to be making a fuzz out of the minute waves that google outputs every so few minutes. Imagine what headaches we would suffer when we have to contend with both google and microsoft (when it brings Yahoo up to par with google) soon?
Great Video, I am very happy to getting this information.
It was an excellent video. After seeing the video i have realised that the numbers reflected by Google should not be taken on the face of it and we should see whether the numbers are right or wrong and that involves more time. So which tool for KW eresearch should be relied upon to show the exact and correct numbers?
really great video and i also like this type of video . i did not notice number , but now i give proper attention towards the numbers.
Very interesting post. unfortunately we do not all have the options with the weak SA rand!
Unfortunately I cannot afford Travis’s keyword lists. So, I do my research with hours and hours and then after a while I get a message from Google that I’m sending automated requests and I cannot do anything any more!
This I can still handle, but all these Google slaps gets me down!!! lat night I went to bed and my site was no. 1 in Google, this morning I wake up and I cannot find it. I do not know how to change it? Every now and again you have to start all over!
What should I do?
Thank you for this. This is very informative and helpful. Keep up the good work.