API results fluctuating comparing them with google.com

[caragh]

Hi

I monitor a number of sites for clients using the Google search API and am noticing that search results are fluctuating a lot when I compare the API results to the results from the live site.

Does anyone know if they are updating their indexes? Or is anyone else having similar problems?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[tedster]

I have often noticed that API rankings can be out of alignment with google.com rankings. It seems inevitable today, when google.com rankings are not even in line with each other between different locations, even different cities within the US. You also see variations when you query a Google IP address directly.

The members in our SERP Changes thread [webmasterworld.com] are seeing a lot of current shifting in the SERPs, and there's a lot of changes being noticed by country [webmasterworld.com], too.

Are you noticing this fluctuation of API results across a significant variety of searches, or is it more focused in certain keyword areas?

[caragh]

I am seeing the fluctation across certain keywords. For example the API returns a position of 5 for a certain keyword and google.com returns a position of 1 for the same keyword.

This is not restricted to to just one or two keywords it is the majority of them.

You mention querying "a Google IP address directly" how can I do this?

[Chris_Boggs]

Interesting.

Sorry if not directly related to this topic, as I would think this is more of an issue with the way that Google presents its listings to a crawler than the API issue, but I figured what the heck...

When using a third party tracking system that uses the API, we are getting numerous situtations where the Product result coming in above the #1 organic is showing as a #1 listing. In fact we have one client that has numerous such cases in their ranking report.

Anyone else seeing this?

[tedster]

Chris, are those search results the type that shows 11 results on the first page? That is, results where the product one-box isn't being counted toward the standard ten--per-page.

[Chris_Boggs]

Yes Ted...in fact that must be it because we typically only report to results #30, but have been getting #31s in the report. If you look at the Google string URL of each of the results in a product one-box area, they show cd=1 in the string, indicating #1 (all three of them do) and then you look at the "first" organic result and you get cd=2.

[Chris_Boggs]

Just to clarify the part of the string I am referring to is ...result&cd=1... for the product results that include the brand name, which is different than the in the number one organic result - below the three product listings, which shows clnk&cd=2.

a different search without a brand name shows the number one organic with clnk&cd=1.

So I think the "result&cd= would signify that this is specific to products, and the clnk&cd= would be specific to an organic result. Yet when a result&cd=1 (or three of them for the three product listings) exists, then the first organic result shifts always to clnk&cd=2 inbstead of 1.

Confused anyone? :p

[edited by: tedster at 7:47 pm (utc) on Feb. 15, 2008]