Why is my Google search placement (SERP) so random?

Dave's Answer:

Thanks for your question. You aren't the first person to be baffled by a Google Dance and its seemingly random reordering of search results! There are a couple of factors that can be contributing to the difference in search engine results placement (SERP) that you see:

1. Different data centers - sometimes you might be randomly bounced to a data center with an older (or newer) algorithm for calculating SERP as part of how Google load balances its phenomenal traffic.
2. Being logged in to Google - next time you're on the Google home page, look in the top right: are you logged in? Is your neighbor? Logging in changes the search engine results in relatively subtle ways, but I have found that more than once I'll tell someone "I'm talking about match #3 on this search" and for them it's something completely different. If I log out, my results are more likely to match theirs. Very confusing!
3. Gremlins in the system. Seriously, there's a random factor that is also present, though I don't really understand it. Again, I think it's a factor of the way that Google calculates searches in real time AND constantly tweaks and fiddles with its search results algorithms. Also remember that the addition of new matches against a keyword can bubble through the system in subtle ways too, so while it affects you, it might not be anything to do with YOUR site, per se.

Finally, I will recommend what I always recommend: Just focus on building the best possible fresh content site, with frequent updates, and participate on other sites / discussion boards / blogs to get visibility and some inbound linking and you'll bubble to the top.

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Response from the questioner:

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I hate to beat a dead horse but there is one other thing that still makes no sense to me about the problem.

This morning I used the Google window in Firefox plus I used Google.com at two different times, once when I was signed out and once when I was signed in and was in 9th position on the first page all three times. When I used Web Position reporter I was 14th. I also used Google dance tool. On two of the cases on the Google dance tool I was in 9th position and the third showed I was in 10th position on the first page. This was when two friends living in different parts of California showed me coming up on the third page. In all of the searches we used the same "lace curtains" keyword.

My question still is how can I, by using three different search methods, be so consistent and never hit a different data center that shows a lower ranking and they never hit a data center that shows a higher ranking?

I know I have a niche market with lace curtains but it would also seem, by being on the first page in even some of the data centers I would get more visitors to the site. My Google Analytics reasearch shows my site only gets between 60 and 90 visitors a day throughout the world. It makes me wonder if Google makes the decision showing me higher rankings because I search the keyword more frequently when, in fact, no one else shows me in as high a ranking.

Oh, you may be interested in how my Google standings changed. As of today, 9-4, I checked google.com signed in and my URL is listed in 3rd position on the top page for the keyword "Lace Curtains'. Signed out it is 9th. Checking Google dance's 3 datacenters it is in 9th place on each of the 3. Seemingly that looks like it is more or less stabilized but checking with a nearby friend, she finds it listed on the 2nd page at the top which makes it in 11th position. Curioser and Curioser just like Alice in Wonderland.

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You're not the first person to share the evidence of how curiously Google's system can prove when you're paying close attention to SERPs. Honestly, I think that paying overly close attention to the specifics of placement are really just the road to slow insanity, and I'd generally just counsel that you pay more attention to building that traffic and expanding your wares than worrying about whether you're #1, #2 or #3 for a specific keyword search.

And good luck, either way!