Why do google search results vary

Its dominance in search, and the disappearance of most competitors, make its lists of links appear still more canonical. An experimental new interface for Google Search aims to remove that mantle of neutrality. Search Atlas makes it easy to see how Google offers different responses to the same query on versions of its search engine offered in different parts of the world.

Divergent results like that show how the idea of search engines as neutral is a myth, says Rodrigo Ochigame, a PhD student in science, technology, and society at MIT and cocreator of Search Atlas. But instead of returning a single column of results, the site displays three lists of links, from different geographic versions of Google Search selected from the more than the company offers.

Search Atlas automatically translates a query to the default languages of each localized edition using Google Translate. That pattern could result in part from how the corpus of web pages from any language or region would reflect cultural priorities and pressures.

Some key elements to the variation included changes in news sources and the placement of sometimes identical links in different positions, which has a drastic impact on the likelihood that they get clicked. To further drive home the point that private and logged-out searches are still equally variable, DuckDuckGo calculated the difference between text results for private, logged-out users and compared them to both the results of other anonymous users and the standard, logged-in search results for those initial users.

The data indicates that between standard, logged-in search results and private, logged-out ones, there was typically a difference of only one or two domains, while the variation between anonymous users was from three for gun control to five for vaccinations domain changes.

And by giving away really useful, ad-supported products for free. Google could not comment on a study it did not have access to, but the company says that search results can change by the minute and sometimes even by the second, especially for news topics. Google also says that personalization is done on only a small fraction of the total number of queries entered into search, and relying on recent queries is often to determine the context for a search, like when a word may apply to a sports team and a city simultaneously.

The company did confirm that it does not personalize results for incognito searches using signed-in search history, and it also confirmed that it does not personalize results for the Top Stories row or the News tab in search. Over the years, a myth has developed that Google Search personalizes so much that for the same query, different people might get significantly different results from each other.

Results can differ, but usually for non-personalized reasons. The company began personalizing search results for every user, even those without a Google account, way back in using an anonymous cookie that would take into account information like your location, language, search history, and other factors. Regardless, Google has come under fire in the last couple of years for engaging in practices that, while not exactly clandestine, were certainly not widely known and likely kept out of the limelight to avoid too much public scrutiny.

One notable example, surfaced by an investigation from The Wall Street Journal , was how app developers were often able to read your personal Gmail messages , which prompted concern from some users and a congressional inquiry.

Google also felt the need to stop scanning Gmail messages to target advertisements last year because it was worried that the practice, when it came to light in contract negotiations, might scare away enterprise companies. And in September, Google was forced to reverse a controversial Chrome login feature that would help it better target ads by automatically logging users into the browser without their express permission.

And to improve how much money it makes from each ad sale, and the total quantity of ads it sells, Google often resorts to tactics its users have little insight into or deep understanding about. Because Carl. There you sit in the very last seat of the roller coaster, empty-stomached and sans mouse ears, ready for a fun-filled ride. There Carl sits in the very front seat, being all Carl-like, loose-fitting hat atop his head and a belly filled to the brim. Google organic search results work the same way, only with less gross things hitting you in the face.

Sometimes it even happens if you are in the same room. Or even on the same device. So trying to get a read on what, where, when or how Google SERP aka search engine result pages will do something next is very difficult. To do this they created some wicked smart algorithms to package up the bits and pieces of the Internet into a smaller Internet that is exactly the way you like it. Rather than being based solely on traditional SEO ranking factors like page speed , HTML tags , site structure and core web vitals , personalized search is based on information search engines gather about a user.

This information is then used to provide more relevant, personalized results related to the location, interests, search history and demographics of that user. Once upon a time, in a server far, far away, Google displayed the same results for everyone.

It was horrible. For any given query everybody got the same information. Which meant you ended up having the same exact experience as Carl. In , Google unveiled personalized search to the masses. And it was glorious. A change to make your Internet experience is the best of all possible Internet experiences. And so you never have to worry about being grouped with Carl again. The trouble is that when implementing SEO, many companies often ignore personalized search.

This is mostly because personalized search feels like something that is out of our control. Any brand that wants to be successful in organic search needs take back control, or at least prevent losing control, of their SERP rankings. Want to know the top 5 reasons why Google search results vary and how it affects your SEO ranking? The location from which you search plays a big role in the results you receive.

Physical businesses and places closest to a user receive priority and appear higher up in organic search results.