Why do Google results look different on your phone than on a customer's?
Because Google tailors results to the person and the moment. Google says it uses information such as your location, past Search history and Search settings, and results also vary with time, language and device. An owner searching from the shop, signed in, after many visits to their own site, may see the business higher than a customer across town does. For a fairer picture, search signed out, from other places and on other people's phones.
What Google says changes the results
Google's help page on why results differ says people may get different results "based on things like time, context, or personalized results".
- Location. Google's location help says it estimates where you are from several sources used together, including your device, a home or work address saved in your Google Account, places you searched for before and your IP address.
- History and settings. Google's page on ranking results says Search uses "your location, past Search history, and Search settings", and that it can bring a page you have visited many times to the top. Its help page on differing results adds that if you are signed in with Personalized Recommendations on, results can also be reordered by things like search history.
- Context and time. Google also names language, device type and recent searches, and says time "may be one of the biggest reasons" results vary between people.
Why your own phone is a poor test
Your phone often carries what tilts results toward your business: a nearby location, a signed-in account, past searches for its name and many visits to its site. As general advice, that can make it look higher than strangers see it, while a customer across town may see a closer competitor first, as the related answer on why a competitor shows up above you on Google Maps explains.
How to see what a customer sees
- Read the bottom of the results page. Google says it shows the location used, with a link to update it, and may note that results are personalized; its "Try without" link shows results without personalization and does not change your settings. Google is updating these settings, so names may differ.
- Put a place in the search, such as your customer's town; Google's location help suggests adding a location when local results are missing.
- Search signed out, in a private window. As general advice, that keeps much of your history out but not your location: Google says it will always estimate the general area you are searching from.
- Ask two or three people elsewhere in your area to run the same search on their phones and send a dated screenshot.
- Repeat the same searches monthly; the related answer on why a business is not showing up on Google covers which ones to run.
When a seller shows you a screenshot
A screenshot shows what one person saw, from one place and account, at one moment. As general advice, ask what was typed, where, when and whether the person was signed in before treating it as proof. Google's ranking page says it gives advertisers no special treatment in how it ranks websites, "and nobody can pay us to do so"; the related answer on how to spot an SEO scam covers that pitch.
Sources
- Google Search Help, "Why your Google Search results differ from others"
- Google Search Help, "Understand & manage your location when you search on Google"
- Google Search, "How Does Google Determine Ranking Results" (How Search works: ranking results)
Related answers
- Why isn't my business showing up on Google?
- Why are my competitors showing up on Google instead of me?
- Why does ChatGPT give different people different answers?
- Why does a competitor show up above my business on Google Maps?
- How do you spot an SEO scam?
SEO for service businesses
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