Why are organic search results vastly different on Bing, Google and Yahoo Search

[jimmyzig]

We searched two words for a client so see how/where their site returned results. Depending on both the browser we used and the search engine, the results were so vastly different we were shocked. The site returned #2 or 3 on Bing and YahooSearch and not until the 3rd page for Google! And it also returned much worse on Chrome than any other browser, a Google product.

I know this topic must be covered somewhere, or perhaps someone would be kind enough to chime in and shed some light? We have been working hard to optimize for Google and failing, but doing very well everywhere else. What gives?

[KeriMorgret]

The search engines generally personalize your search results, based on a number of factors -- information from if you are signed in (even to gmail), your previous search history, and your location, for just a few. Different browsers would have different histories and different accounts, which helps explain the different results. Generally, try to use an incognito window of a browser to search, to help minimize personalization.

Bing and Yahoo use the same algorithm and index, so the results there should be fairly similar. Google uses a different a algorithm and index (and tends to have more pages indexed than Bing), so its results will be different.

If you haven't yet, verify your website in Google and Bing Webmaster Tools. They will help tell you of any problems that they spot with your site.

[jimmyzig]

Thank you Keri