Different Browser Different SERPs

google,SERP,

[Arnett]

I was on the phone with a company rep today and they wanted an example of the techniques that I use to generate SE traffic. As a developer I keep the latest versions of IE,Opera and Netscape on hand to check my pages with.

I entered a search argument into Google and asked her to do the same. As I was reading the results from the SERP back to her she noted that the results on her screen were not the same as mine. She was using IE so I switched to IE and entered the same search argument into Google. Again the SERPs displayed did not match.

What's the story here? I was aware that different browers generate different SERPs but could it also extend to different versions of browsers as well?

[bether2]

When you go to google.com and do a search, the query is sent to one of 10 data centers. All data centers do not produce the same search results.

So, I suspect that you and your friend were hitting different data centers when you searched - and that you were hitting a different data center when you did your second search with IE.

I don't think it has to do with which browser you're using.

Beth

[Arnett]

I don't think it has to do with which browser you're using.

Thanks. If that were true,then wouldn't I get different results if I entered the same address line a number of times?

What is the sourceid parameter in the address line when I use the Opera browser for?

[google.com...]

when I use it in IE it displays exactly the same results as the Opera browser.

the address [google.com...] from Netscape 7.02 yields exactly the same results as the Opera query but displays different results when pasted into IE

[TheDave]

You sure that you dont have preferences set in IE (through cookies) which arent set in Opera and Mozilla? Language settings, filtering and all that sort of thing would have an effect on the results. I see absoloutely no difference in results between browsers

[bether2]

If that were true,then wouldn't I get different results if I entered the same address line a number of times?

It looks like some other people are reporting some similar behavior. See msg #94 and #100 here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

And also msg #1 and #2 here:

[webmasterworld.com...]

Beth