One of the search phrases we track has been constantly changing from #3 to #5 to #10 back to #5 then #3 for the last week. I thought there was going to be a change and then it would hold steady somewhere. Does anyone think that google has something new where the results change depending on popularity?
Welcome to the forums! What you're describing is normal. For more info, try searching or browsing the Google forum here.
best thing to do: keep doing what you've been doing to gain your rankings. Some factors you can't control. Just build content, get good links and such. SOmetimes the reason for the fluctuation is simply that you're competitors are doing the same thing you're doing and getting better at it. Be efficient and beat them. Don't sit back and wait for your rankings. Every chance you get to get a good link and add more relevant content: just do it!
By "constantly" I mean every 5 minutes or sometimes every hour or so. Sometimes I can hit refresh and each time it shows different results. I understand changing but changing constantly every hour or so is something new I haven't seen. Have you? Oh --- and thanks for the welcome. This is a really nice forum.
Maybe it is also google optimising the search revelance on your computer (client side). As long as it is in the first page, youre good.
from what i have been seeing, if you are an old established site that has been ranking in google for a while, your google rankings are going to pretty much stay put. If you are a newer site that is trying to get to the top, or if you are an older site that hasn't done any seo for a really long time, you might see a lot of fluctuation in your rankings. I don't know if this is a big daddy thing or what but it's definitely happening a lot lately.
I noticed this to last week. Thunder from the Google Gods (eek!) I was able to look across multiple datacenters here: http://www.mcdar.net/dance/index.php