Opera 6.05/IE 5.5

consistently different results in Google

[nancyb]

Sorry if this has been asked and answered but was unable to find it with site search.

Over the past two days I've been getting different results searching for just my last name in Google using Opera, IE and NS. (last name = my domain) In Opera my domain doesn't show up in over 31,400 results, but in IE my domain comes up #1 in 33,000 results. Doesn't matter if it's a search or refresh.

I've tried identifying Opera as Mozilla and as IE but that doesn't change the results. Also, have cleaned all history and cache and results are the same whether I use either the tool bars or google on site search box.

Tried the same searches with both browsers in AV, Hotbot, Ink, Fast and Teoma and results are the same in both browsers, only searches on Google are different for the two broswers.

Since this has been consistent for two days I don't see how it could be different data centers being served. Is this strange or am I being dense?

[jomaxx]

Check your personal preferences, especially the Safesearch filter (none, moderate, strict).

[nancyb]

No filters set in IE and so far haven't found them in Opera. I use browsers "out of the box".

The only thing different in the first 100 results between the two browsers is the # results and my domain as #1 in IE but no where in Opera.

For about an hour IE results were the same as in Opera. IE results have now reverted back to serving my domain as #1 again. Opera never has shown my domain as #1 for just the name.

I've done a bunch of other simple one word/name searches and so far find nothing different in the two browsers except searching my own name. :o

I'm not asking about this because my name isn't showing consistently, I'm wondering if this is could happen on other odd searches. I would never have noticed it except I was trying to check my ranks and both browsers were open and I clicked IE by mistake and saw different results.

[BigDave]

I would wait for the dance to end before assuming that it is anything more than different browsers being routed to different machines.

[nancyb]

Yes, I will be testing this again after the dance settles. I was hoping someone had noticed something similar before though and had an explanation. I've never heard anything about different browsers, on the same machine, being routed to different data centers almost simultaneously. If so, it'll be www, w2 and w3 in both browsers for the next dance. Just a little more craziness next dance then ;) or maybe I'll just have a couple bottles of wine and wait it out next time - like that'll happen hah

[BigDave]

With load sharing intelligent routers, they did not necessarily route you to different data centers. Different servers from the same data center could provide different results. Or it could be providing different IP addresses to the different browsers.

[jomaxx]

I didn't mean built-in browser filters. Google saves your SafeSearch preferences using a cookie. Either go to advanced search and search using identical filters, or purge cookies and try again. That *may* be the cause.

[nancyb]

Thanks BigDave, that or something similar must have been it because it seems to have settled down now. Same results with both browsers every time - and :) - domain comes up as #1 every time.

No, jomaxx, don't use Google's safesearch filter either and had already purged cookies a number of times.

This little experiement convinces me, again, that it is just better to check once a day to see if the dance has settled down. Sorry for the thread, but I had never noticed differences between browsers before nor the differences between the results of the tool bar search and the onsite search box results.