My client sees very different serps than I do

[dibbern2]

I've got myself in a spot with an important SEO client over G serps showing different data to her than what I see.

The client is in the Virgin Islands (a US territory) and I am in Chicago. The issue is wether we have succeeded in achieving a first page serps position for her business. Here in the midwest, we've seen ranks between #3 - #7 steadily for about 12 weeks. She claims that her business has never made it to the first 10 positions.

I started to explain that different data centers probably show different serps, and then stopped, because I am assuming that all US data centers are pretty much the same results when you take a look over several months time. On the other hand, I would expect significant changes between Google US and Google Some-other-country. But the USVI is not a foriegn location.

I'm pretty baffled, and not sure that my assumptions are correct. If anyone has a word of explanation or advice, I'd really appreciate hearing.

Thanks.

[tedster]

It's not just data centers that may differ, in fact that's a real but relatively minor factor. Search results are shifted according to the IP address of the user. In other words, Google often shows different results according to geolocation, and they have been doing that for quite a while, and doing it in an increasing manner.

I can be in New York, on the phone with a client in Boston and we'll see different SERPs, and I'm not just talking about local search queries, either. There's also the issue of personalized search results, which you see if you are logged onto a Google account when you make the search.

[tedster]

Here's a good discussion on how to see geolocated results: [webmasterworld.com...]

[dibbern2]

Thanks tedster. Your explanation really helps.

I'm guessing its going to be difficult to demonstrate this to her.

[buckworks]

Send her screenshots of what you're seeing from your location.

[Jane_Doe]

I think they personalize serps to at least some degree based on what you've clicked on in the past as well.

[htdawg]

what about stats? does she get any traffic for those two top 10 positions?

[bwnbwn]

What kind of tracking do you have in use were it shows the referrals coming from. I use statcounter and it shows the referrals from all the different areas of the world and the SE used. statcounter is free and could prove your point as if she sees a search result from google.com based in US it will show the results to her and the rankings of her business and or search

{{{{not based on her IP but the user that did the search.}}}}

You can let her log in and see traffic, referrals and anything else that will help you in proving your work is having a positive effect on her rankings.

[BradleyT]

What does webmaster tools say the position is for the keywords in question?