Do Organic Results Fluctuate?

Happy Holidays Folks,

Can positions in the organic results fluctuate without any changes taking place? For example, If I search "Car Accessories", I get a list of ten websites in numbered order. If NO changes take place (incoming links, copy, algo, navigation, etc...) and a week later I type in the same keyword but the position of those sites changed, the results fluctuated. Can anyone confirm whether or not this happens?

-K

Yes, SERP results can fluctuate significantly from day-to-day. Sometimes it is due to a different datacenter being queried; others is when there is a data refresh. Still, other times it can be due to algo changes at Google or a difference in the configuration of the sites presented (content, backlinks, etc.).

Your best bet is to check it periodically, but don't panic immediately if there is movement downwards; or, celebrate prematurely if there is movement upwards. You best bet is to check the positioning across many datacenters. One good one: http://www.mcdar.net/dance/index.php.

Hi SEO_AM,

I'm aware of results fluctuating when the above takes place, but theoretically, if no changes take place, would results fluctuate? I know this is a silly question because there is always some movement going on. The question is just hypothetical.

By the way, thanks for the resource

-K

In physics... if nothing changes... the results would be identical every time, but in the real world nothing ever remains the same. Changes may or may not be directly measurable or presented, but change is about the only thing in this world you can be sure of.

Since all datacenters process the index slightly different each time a different datatcenter becomes Google.com results can flucuate without anything or anyone changing anything.

"In physics... if nothing changes... the results would be identical every time, but in the real world nothing ever remains the same. Changes may or may not be directly measurable or presented, but change is about the only thing in this world you can be sure of."

Google's database is very dynamic. I won't be surprised if it changes every 5 minutes. Its spider is out there 24/7 and pulling in new info every second.

I have seen site's rankings fluctuate on the same day from the same Google datacenter.