-9998

I have been checking my rank for keywords each day, and today when I checked I noticed that for one of my keywords it went from a 42 position ranking to a -9998 is this possible or a glitch.

Using Safari on Mac Osx Panther if it helps?

 

That's happening for me almost daily for noncompetitive keywords...from #1 or 2 to not even listed.

 

That's what I thought at first too, but if your not in the top 50 (or whatever you've set your preferences to be) the negative number will appear. It may as well be -9998 since no one hardly goes past page one.

 

I have keywords that do this. If you are optimized, they'll come back. Mine usually come back in two or three weeks. It's just google rearranging furniture, as it were.

 

That's happened to me several times as well.

But the correct number has appeared most of the times if I click on the keyword (re-check it) again.
Maybe it's just a small glitch in the keyword checker, and not google??

 

Sometimes, you'll get a -9998 and its just a goof up. Your page is still right about where it should be. Google's weird ranking system that wildly fluctuates these days is a bit tempermental for me, though. Checking daily is almost an absurb concept, unless you want general trends.

 

I was wondering about that too, thanks! Still, why 9998? Why not 9999?

 

It's based on 10,000. If you were number 2, and then fell out of the rankings you would then be 10,000 - 2 so 9,998. If you were number 7 then fell out of the rankings you would be 9,993.

 

It's that I always see 9998. And the thread started said he went from 42 to 9998. Never try to understand a glitch I guess.