Can anyone explain why I get a different result from someone located only 20 miles away when searching in Google.
We are both using the same search engine (Google). The only difference is that he uses a Mac (and Safari) and I use a PC. I even checked my result with Safari on my PC and it was still different from his.
When you check results on Major search engines logged out from your mail id. If you logged in it will display some different results. SO only you got different reulsts
Yes, I made sure I was logged out, and I still get the same results. I have link checking software, and this gives the same results as I get.
If you visited a site frequently, it would of showed up on your search as a better result than it ranks for other people.
Check out Turning off search history personalization : Personalized Search - Accounts Help for more details.
Would the search engine know if I visited it regularly if I have a dynamic ip address?
The Search Engine knows. It can be done through your IP and searching pattern. It is better not to search for a keyword often. It would affect ranking in the course of time.
But if I have a dynamic IP then don’t I have a different IP every day?
Now the results are even further apart. A ranking for a keyphrase is number 7 in Google on my computer and on page 3 in his.
I read somewhere that it is possible to have a conflict of datacentres which can give dodgy results, but couldn’t understand what this meant.
Yes! It caused by access of different data centers, but it is not possible that you guys are accessing different data centers when you are sitting just 20 miles distance of each other?? The possible thing is may be your friend searching in Google.co.in or you are searching in Google.com, so check your Google domain carefully.
I have the same problem in my own house never mind 20 miles up the road.
Yes, the results seem consistent with mine when checked 300 miles away and yet 20 miles away they are totally bizarre
I agree this is very annoying and makes it hard to know if your SEO efforts are paying off. Even when I turn off personalization, I never trust that the results I see from my home computer are “objective.”
There are lots of free tools to help you determine how you are ranking objectively, though. Try FREE Search Engine Rankings Check in Seconds, for example.
Alfred
This is because of when you are logged in at your search engine, it will show you more better result then without login.