Comments on: Google Search Results Firefox and Internet Explorer

By: Texxs

Texxs — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:31:03 +0000

Definetly different results for different browsers down here in Florida.

+ Yes, I have “web history” turned off in both browsers
+ No I’m not signed into Google.

I hope it’s not more shadiness from Google trying to steal more money from advertisers like they do with the Chrome Browser. (They count all hand typed address visits as clicks on a google advert for Chrome users even though the user never clicked an advert.)
Firefox has shown a willingness to bundle spyware from Google as part of an official Firefox distribution in the past. They seem to be leaning seperate ways over privacy issues these days but still . . .
Texxs´s last blog ..St Petersburg Small Business Web Site Follow Up

By: Yosu Cadilla

Yosu Cadilla — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 15:12:42 +0000

I don´t have the answer, but I have some ideas about it…
I observed this behavior like 9 days ago and found this blog thanx to google.
First of all I have to say I am ok and I received no harm from performing the searches

Ok, My word of the day is “facturae” I don´t know if you will be able to repeat the same results because is a word in spanish and for spanish speaking people, and the results came from google.es, NOT google.com… but you can try.

Any browser except for IE: Position 3 is facturae.org and positions 5 and 6 are dancing for http://www.elmundo.es and http://www.hazteunafacturae.com
Internet Explorer (with google bar) Facturae.org is number 6 and hazteunafacturae.com is number 3, elmundo.es is just missing from first page.

That was all with WinXP, when I switched to Ubuntu with FF, facturae.org was on pos#2 and hazteunafacturae.com on pos#10 elmundo.es missing again.

MY 2 cents… I don’t know if google deviates his searches from google.es to different datacenters (It could be good to know) but it seems consistent that google is using your OS and browser in the algorithm for our searches, and that factor has a strong weigth on the results, so maybe we should start optimizing for different OS and browser from now on…

Yosu Cadilla´s last blog post..La oficina sin papeles u oficina digital.

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 10:39:32 +0000

Bill,

As far as I know there is no “fix”. It doesn’t seem to be a “Problem”. Just an observation. It could be the data center each browser is on at the time. It could be the way the browsers each cache information or some way it is tweaked inside the browser. I haven’t heard of any good explanation beyond the theory I had about your previous search history being stored in each browser influencing the results returned by Google at the time of the search.

By: Bill

Bill — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 08:26:44 +0000

We’re having the same issue on the same computer, has anyone found concrete fix for this problem, if it really is a problem?

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 12:15:34 +0000

Lars,

I think it has to do with your search history. Google tracks this and it seems to be done in the browser you are using. It moves results around based on sites you have clicked on in the past. If you click on your own site often it moves it up in the results.

My guess would be you use FF as your main browser and are checking results with IE.

There is more to it, but like most of what goes on with Google, we don’t know what it is and how often it changes.

By: Lars Rasmussen

Lars Rasmussen — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 11:42:25 +0000

Anyone found some answers? I have recently experienced the same, different computers, different citys and both with and without Google account turned on / logged in. Same result. #9 in FF and # 19 in IE. Anybody cared to ask Google and did you receive an answer? BTW my searches were in Denmark. First I thought is was something regarding Google.dk but no.

By: Glenn in Naples

Glenn in Naples — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 11:55:30 +0000

Has anyone pinged to see which google data center is reporting the results when you have tested in IE or FF?
There is a way to do it, but I honestly forgot the method.

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:17:58 +0000

@Justin in Oahu - That is a very interesting observation. I'm logged into my Google account all the time. Gmail and webmaster tools etc. Now I have to log out and see what happens. But, as I've mentioned before when I tried this on different computers I wasn't logged into my G account.

By: Justin in Oahu

Justin in Oahu — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 20:09:03 +0000

@Adam – I see what you are saying about Google services. The search results in one of my broker’s computers is different than on my computer, same browser, same operating system. It’s because he is logged into his Google account and it’s giving preference to links he’s clicked on before. One he signs out, the results look the same as my computer.

By: Dave Smith

Dave Smith — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 19:15:30 +0000

@Adam - Interesting. But it looks like it is a sign-up service not something Google does without you turning on the service. It also doesn't explain how the results are consistent across various computers at different locations and getting the same page 1 in IE and page 5 in FF. I've suspected for some time there was some tailoring going on in search results. My first clue came over a year ago when deleting all the temp internet files and cookies. All the search results changes slightly. Hum : )