Troubleshooting: Search engine results appear to be wrong
From SiteRay wiki
If SiteRay reports different results from what you see in Google, Yahoo etc. you should read this page.
Common explanations
You included/excluded the www prefix differently
example.com and www.example.com are actually two different websites. If Google is scoring you highly for example.com, but you have asked SiteRay to test www.example.com, your results will differ. Note that having two web addresses like this is particularly bad SEO practice and should be avoided.
Note that as of SiteRay 3.0.2 this issue is automatically detected and circumvented for you.
Your Homepage URL is wrong
The Homepage web address you enter when you test the website will be tested to see if the domain matches what is found in Google. E.g. if you tested www.yahoo.co.uk and uk.yahoo.co.uk (together, as one website), SiteRay will only look for www.yahoo.co.uk in search results. Where your site is split over several domain names, ensure the most important one is first.
Rare explanations
You have been comparing personalised search results
Some search engines have started to personalise search results, tending to show individuals results which are customised based on their browsing history. As a result, you may see your favourite sites appearing higher on your own search engine than others. An easy way to check for this is to use another computer, or clear the cookies from your web browser. In these cases, SiteRay is reporting the correct 'default' results.
SiteRay tested at a different time from you
Results can change quickly, and at the time of testing you might have been somewhere else. Two people can use Google at the same time on different computers and get different results (Google itself serves results from different webservers, and so results can fluctuate). Most of the time this is just 'normal'. If your results are slightly out (e.g. SiteRay says I’m #3, I see I’m #2) this is very likely.
SiteRay tested at a different location from you
SiteRay runs tests in the UK. Some search engines may show different results based entirely upon this, even though we 'instruct' them to give us results from the location you request.
Search results are subjective
Some results can be interpreted differently. Read this Technical explanation for more detail.
A search engine has changed how it presents results
Sometimes a search engine will change the way it returns results. In these cases, SiteRay may need an upgrade to understand the new format of their results. This is extremely rare but can happen.
