Uncovering Your True Rankings with Private Browsing

By on November 28th, 2011. Posted in Keywords

Private browsing

If like me, you probably check your most important keyword rankings on a fairly regular basis. Sometimes Google likes to personalise the results it returns based on sites you have previously visited. Resulting in your site or any site you regularly visit appearing higher for you than it would for others. A nice touch at times but a tad frustrating and perhaps misleading when you want to check how your SEO is truly doing.

Until recently, I overcame this by using a separate browser that I only used for checking rankings. I used Internet Explorer for this and ensured the cache and history had been cleared. This worked well but I recently found a better and quicker way and wanted to share, thanks to Przemek Hocke from New Bamboo. He suggested I stuck to my regular browser and used private browsing instead:

Private Browsing

Chrome

Longcut: Click the Wrench -> New incognito window.
Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + N

FireFox

Longcut: Select Tools -> Start Private Browsing.
Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + P

Internet Explorer

Longcut: Select Tools -> InPrivate Browsing.
Shortcut: Ctrl + Shift + P

Now you can check your ‘true’ rankings without changing browser, or clearing your cache/history. Just flip on private browsing and you are away!

Update: If you are signed into a Google account, make sure you sign out as well.

Comments (7)

  • raul

    Posted on November 28th, 2011

    Thanks for sharing Joe!
    Check this:
    http://yoast.com/tools/seo/disable-personalized-search-plugin/

    Reply

  • Doug Harvey

    Posted on November 30th, 2011

    Thanks for this Joe, only yesterday i was discussing the position of our site in Google for a particular keyword, only to find on my browser it was reporting us to be in 2nd spot and on my workmates browser we were at the bottom of the first page !!! I realised why this was, because, i was at the time logged into Google and thought the very same thing as you did, that it was showing me tailored results. After logging out it and clearing the web cache restarting my browser, I found out i was in fact at the bottom of the first page for the keyword i was checking !! Darn !! more SEO required !!

    Reply

    • Joe

      Posted on November 30th, 2011

      Hi Doug,

      Good to hear from you again! Yes, it can be frustrating… but best to know where you stand.

      Reply

  • Craig Loft

    Posted on January 10th, 2012

    Thanks for the info Joe. I am getting a strange result when checking my keyword positions and even after clearing my browser cache the results were still inconsistent from IE8 to my other browsers (Chrome, Safari, Opera, Firefox) google returned results where I was doing better in IE8 browser than the other browsers… for some reason possibley due to my previous search histories (yes, even after I’d cleared the browser caches and ensured I was logged off my Google account!)… trouble is I still get the same inconsistent results… IE8 gives me a page 1 position (no.2) and the other browsers consistentl tell me I’m on page 3 (no.5) how strange!!! Any tips or advice?

    Reply

    • Joe

      Posted on January 10th, 2012

      Hi Craig,

      Have you tried private browsing as suggested in the blog post?

      In Opera, I believe the shortcut for private browsing is ‘CTRL+SHIFT+N’. Here is how you do it for Safari: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Safari/3.0/en/9311.html.

      This has always worked well for me. I use Chrome as my default browser, and incognito mode (private browsing) works ask intended. Also make sure you are signed out of any Google account.

      I found using private browsing is easier and clearer to do that clearing the cache.

      Reply

  • Craig Loft

    Posted on January 10th, 2012

    Ok, I admit it!!! I’d not done the inPrivate browsing correctly… I assumed incorrectly it was a toggle on / toggle off feature, but now realise you’re supposed to stay IN the browser window which opens with the “inPrivate” icon showing in the URL bar… so now it’s definatley “on” I am now getting a consistent search return across all browsers – I will definately be using this feature from now on when I check all my keyword results. Much obliged for your advice Joe “the SEO”.

    Reply

  • Joe

    Posted on January 10th, 2012

    Yer, you have to watch out for that one… makes life a lot easier than clearing the cache every time.

    Reply