In the course of my work as a small business online marketing consultant, the problem of false search engine rankings often rears its ugly head. What do I mean by this? Basically it's when website owners think their rankings are better than they actually are.
Read on to discover why this happens and how to check if it's happening to your site.
What's the problem?
The majority of business owners will look at their own website often, and it's this that can cause false high rankings. In most browsers, your history will be stored and used when you type in certain keywords and phrases.
For example, your own site may appear on page 1 for your most important keyword/phrase when you search for it, but not when others do. This is because they don't have a history of looking at your website like you do.
On more than one occasion I've had to point out to potential clients their page 1 ranking for that competitive keyword is in fact too good to be true.
Go incognito
A quick and easy way to check if the search engine rankings on your computer are the same as other are seeing is to go 'incognito.
Using the Google Chrome browser, click on the spanner icon in the top right of the screen, then select 'New incognito window' from the dropdown menu.
You'll then see this screen in a new browser window.
This allows you to see the search engine rankings for keyword and phrases exactly as other people do who don't of course have your browsing history.
Another way to check
If you don't use Google Chrome as your default browser and don't want to install it, another way to check is to search after you delete your browsing history, cache and cookies. The problem with this is it will mean you have to type in usernames and passwords again when you visit your favourite sites.
So there you have it; two options for making sure your search engine rankings are accurate. If you found this post useful or want to know more, please leave your comments below.
Image credit: Jay Galvin (license)