The Google SERP's are begining to make me nuts! Some of my high traffic key terms are showing SearchBliss on page 1 and 2 one day, then no where the next. It's constant shifting every three days, while other terms keep us moving up and down on page 1 (slight fluctuations). Was Matt Cutts telling the truth when he said something along the lines of "making everybody happy by rotating sites in the SERP's"???

I don't think you're alone in your frustrations. I've seen lots of people reporting similar bouncing in the results. I haven't noticed it much myself, but I hardly ever check where I rank for keywords so maybe I'm just missing the bouncing.

Wish I could tell you why it was happening. I tend to think anytime Google makes changes it takes some time for things to stabilize. I think we're still seeing fluctuations from 'big daddy' and subsequent tweaks. Just an opinion though.

Thanks vangogh. I hope things will settle soon...in my favor of course.

It sounds like you're hitting different datacenters at different times. If you're consistently at one point on one search and lower on another, that's usually a good sign.

I don't think they're rotating much of anything other than data merging among the DCs.

If you want a cool Google trick, try this one (I figured this out myself, so I'm not sure if Google intended it or how valid it is):

Google Accessible Search

Look on there to see how well you're doing. If your site is built well and easily crawlable and accessible, you should outrank your normal ranking and it should stay consistent. If not, you've got an issue.

Personally, I've noticed that every site I've checked on it has been top 3. So it's a way cool thing.

Adam you're probably right about hitting different data centers. I'm ashamed of myself for not thinking of that earlier. I like the Accesible search trick too. When I first learned of it's existence I checked out my site for a few phrases where I have ranked consistently and saw my pages rise a little in the results for every one. It gave me hope too that standards and accessibility may one day make it into the more general algorithm.

Originally Posted by ADAM Web Design

If you want a cool Google trick, try this one (I figured this out myself, so I'm not sure if Google intended it or how valid it is):

Google Accessible Search

Look on there to see how well you're doing. If your site is built well and easily crawlable and accessible, you should outrank your normal ranking and it should stay consistent. If not, you've got an issue.

Adam, thank for the input. SearchBliss doesn't rank well in the Google Accessible Search, however, neither soes our top competitor (Bravenet) who is usually #1 for the same terms in Google, so I'm not sure this makes much of a difference. s far as the Data Centers are concerned, thanks for the info.

The one thing about the different data centers is I wouldn't think the change in rank would be so dramatic. I can see being on page 1 or 2 one time and then on page 3 or 4 the next day, but maybe data centers will show more of a drastic change in rank.

I think the slight shifts are most likely from different data centers. With the more drastic changes do you see those pages coming back or just disappearing?

Originally Posted by vangogh

The one thing about the different data centers is I wouldn't think the change in rank would be so dramatic. I can see being on page 1 or 2 one time and then on page 3 or 4 the next day, but maybe data centers will show more of a drastic change in rank.

I think the slight shifts are most likely from different data centers. With the more drastic changes do you see those pages coming back or just disappearing?

Disappearing, then coming back about every 3 days.

what about Google's deal with Career Builder? WHen you search Medical device jobs in Google, you get some crap at the top asking you where you live. Completely SCREWING all of us who are in medical device jobs optimized for Google!

not cool

If they keep coming back I suppose it could be due to different data centers. I generally think different data centers aren't so far apart, but they could be.

Originally Posted by vangogh

If they keep coming back I suppose it could be due to different data centers. I generally think different data centers aren't so far apart, but they could be.

Here's what I mean using our Google Dance tool searching for "webmaster services":
SearchBliss - Dance results for "webmaster services"

SearchBliss is #1 in one data center at the moment. In a day or two we will be #1 in all, then in another day or two, no where to be found again for this keyword phrase.

That is weird. It would seem it's not a rotating data center issue then since you alternatley show and disappear on all.

I was even just checking Google directly and retrying the same search and I see that one time you're #1 and next you're nowhere to be found. It's not just you though. While the results change it's as though I see two sets of very consistent results. One with you at the top and one without. Some of the other sites are on both though not all. Other sites are disappearing same as you.

The consistency though is making me think the two different results are just getting pulled from two different sources, which does suggest different datacenters.

On your tool you show 5 different data centers, but there are a lot more than 5. Are you sure you're always searching those same 5 data centers or could you be cycling through some of the others as well and just showing the same ips for the servers? If you are hitting more than the 5 that could explain things.

Another possiblity is that it's a data refresh/merge across multiple DCs. As Matt Cutts put it, the datacenters are in a state of "everflux". I haven't seen much shifting among results myself (certainly nothing like this), but it's possible that your keyphrase is subject to some shift since it would be a highly competitive term.

The idea that you don't rank in the Accessible search might also provide a clue. The results there tend to be pretty static and if, as I personally suspect but haven't got much to back this up, Google is showing preference to sites that take care of accessibility issues, then you'd be well-served to clean it up. Even if they don't, it's not a bad idea since clean code enhances the user experience.

I know there's nothing definitive in these answers, but I don't think you're going to find a definitive answer to your issue.

Yeah I wish we could help more with this, but I think Adam is right in that we're not going to come up with anything definitive. I've noticed my site bouncing around on certain days for some keyphrases. Nothing as competitive as 'webamaster services' and while I have seen some big bounces I haven't seen anything like this. Maybe I've dropped from page 1 to page 5 or 6 and then back again. Maybe more in some cases since I don't really check it all that much.

I tend to doubt that Google is using the accessilbity stuff in the general algorithm at the moment, but it is interesting as Adam noted that the results of accessible search tend to be more static, and I think accesibility will make it's way into the general search at some point even if in limited fashion.

One of the things about DCs to be aware of is that each DC is made up of several clusters of machines and the same cluster may not be answering for that DC.

Apart from that all bets are off on stable results while there is an image rollout happening (which is what appears to be happening currently)

The days of seeing the same results for any given queries 2 days running are long gone though and eventually it will sink in generally that rankings are NOT the way to measure SEO/SEM success (it never really was BTW) and the metric to be looking at is qualified visitors and therefore sale/signups/enquiries or whatever passes for a conversion on your (or your clients) site.
Any SEO "expert" who doesn't "get" this or is still "willy waving" their 1st place for useless phrases would be better off finding a new line of work or getting equally clueless clients of course.

Oh come on, Chris. First page ranking means everything! It doesn't matter how many people actually click on the term, or how much of an increase in sales stems from it. It matters where they rank! Especially in some obscure longtail phrase like "ballantrae ontario web design and development and e-commerce and web hosting" (we're gonna rock for that phrase.)

Vangogh, The tool uses the same 5 data centers...Anyway thanks for all of the feedback Vangogh, Adam and Chris. I'll just have to live with it...what else can I do. Adam, as far as the accessibility issue is concerned, I do think it is a good idea to clean up SearchBliss for this...I just have to find the time to change hundreds of pages...ug! My 8 month old son prioritises most of my time now, so I can't complain. Oh, and my and "real job". Thanks again all!

Hopefully it's just like Chris said and things will settle down some once Google finishes what they're doing.

And Chris why did you have to tell everyone that rank isn't important. Here I was all set to launch my brand new guarantee that 100% of the time I could get a site to #1 on Google. I wasn't going to guarantee which keyphrase that rank would be for of course. I guess I need to come up with a new pitch.

vangogh, Here's a good pitch...
"Make up to a million dollars online in one week! All you have to do is..."

Anyway, I hope it does settle...in my favor of course.

There's the pitch and all I have to do is have the ... lead to my highest adsense ad. Maybe it's time to start my mesothelioma site.