Why do i get a totally funky position ( 150 ) in real life when the "Query stat" tab of webmaster tools gives me a 3. I've got plenty of queries where the Query stat gives me on page one, and when i check manually using google.com i get on page 15 or 20. pat.
The best way to see what position you are in google is search for the keyword you're going for in google.
This can take a lot of time and can be frustrating too Try this tool http://www.seoutility.com/en/Google_Ranking_Check.htm it checks up to 1000 Or this one http://www.seologs.com/dc-rank-check.html (checks first 100 on various datacenters)
That information shown in webmaster tools is woefully out of touch with reality. It's a snapshot taken at an unknown time from an unknown data center. It would be like looking at your speedometer once in an across the country trip and every time someone asks how fast your going? and saying, "47". Without real time data such a question cannot be answered. It's historic data without a date reference which is completly out of context and thus worthless, not unlike the 404 errors they show but with no reference to where they got the link from. I know what errors I have, I've got a server, tell me where you got the idea to crawl that link in the first place and we'll have something of use.