SERP and SEO Moz ranking

[casper434]

Until a couple of months ago the predicted SEO Moz ranking for a specific keyword was fairly close to what I actually experienced with my website. However, since then the correlation has not been good. For example, according to SEO Moz I am ranked #1 for a specific keyword with google.ca and google.com yet my site actually shows up consistently at #3 for that keyword. Has anyone else noticed this divergence?

[EGOL]

Several people each week visit Q&A to ask why their Google rankings do not match the SEOmoz data.

These two website ratings are based upon different variables.

I would like to see SEOmoz have an obvious link on the results page of their tool that clicks to an explanation of what their results really mean and why they don't match Google's rankings.  Would save lots of people lots of concerns and be a great way to educate on the value of their data.

[greenjoe]

Seems for me that it also counts the Google Places locations numerically.  It can make your rank look bad but it is also the reality of what people see before they find you.  The stand alone Rank Checker tool always seems to give the right SERP over the one given in the weekly search.  Yes, there is always a variable in rank but that seems to be the case with every tool out there. Again the research tool Rank Checker is always spot on for me.

[Cyrus-Shepard]

Great suggestion EGOL!

There are generally two reasons folks see different rankings than what is reported in SEOmoz

1. Personalization and localization. SEOmoz takes great pain to remove the influence of both localization and personalization from it's rankings, but these all to easily slip into our browsers and Google's default settings when checking rankings. Make sure you check your rankings with personalization turned off (or in some sort of incognito mode) and set your location to the country wide setting (United States)

http://www.seomoz.org/blog/google-personalized-search

2. Universal Results - This has to do with the way rank is counted when influenced by things like sitelinks, video results, image results, blended local rankings and so on. The list of variables is long, but a full explanation can be found here:

https://seomoz.zendesk.com/entries/20933146-universal-rankings