Google personalizes search results for everyone, whether you’re signed into your personal account or not. Did you know that?
In fact, Google uses 180 days of personal search results to serve up relevant content (so you’ll keep using Google, of course). Usually that’s cool, but if you’re judging your SEO performance based on live searches, prepare to be screwed & tattooed.
Why Aren’t I Ranking Higher?
One of the most common questions I hear from people is, “Hey, I’ve been doing SEO for 90 days, how come whenever I search for [insert keyword here], my site doesn’t come up?
First off, it takes more than 90 days to optimize for competitive terms — you need to think in terms of an ongoing strategy. But the other part of the equation is this:
Just because Google isn’t showing your site on the first page, doesn’t mean others don’t see it on page one.
Want proof?
Go to the Google Ad Preview Tool to see where your page ranks. This tool is for Google AdWords, but it also works for organic results, giving you an unbiased look into the real results untouched by personalization. See, you’re making sure not to ‘corrupt’ what Google would show you without your personal influence.
The bottom line is that while vanity and competitive searches are fun, they don’t give you an accurate look into the SEO readiness of your website or blog. Don’t judge your optimization efforts without understanding the specific search term you want to rank for, and even then make sure to test correctly. Whether the results are good or bad, at least they’ll be accurate.
Now stop looking at Google for SEO results, but don’t stop optimizing for Google? Make sense?
Good!
Just don’t forget that building a blog/website that ranks well is adding lots and lots of relevant content. Oh — and make sure to update regularly. You’re on your way…