Google - You visited this page.

I’m helping a client obtain a good position on the internet. Their site is www.herdingdogtraining.com.  If you search for “herding dog training” using Google, you’ll see I’ve already done a great job for the client. They are currently in the first position in the Google search results.

More recently we decided to try to get a better position for “dog training Melbourne”. A few changes and the site is gradually moving up. Then I get a telephone call from the client thanking me for getting them on the first page of Google. I check my iPhone and do a search and they’re still in position 13, which is on the second page.

I then go to my Windows XP netbook running Windows XP and there it is. The site is in second position. This should be a reason to celebrate, but unfortunately it isn’t. At the bottom of the entry Google has a line “You visited this page”.

The problem is this gives the client a false expectation that others are seeing their site near the top of the Google search results. Google is biasing results in a number of ways and you have to wonder if it is deliberate. People could think Google is a better search engine if they see their own sites listed on the front page of Google, or near the top of the results. I could understand if they left the result in the same position and added, “you visited this page”, but why move the result from position 13 to position 2. In any case this gives a false impression as to the position of the site in the Google search results.

I clear all the data from Internet Explorer include cache and cookies, make sure I’m not signed into a Google service and still Google remembers I’ve visited the page. This is getting somewhat spooky. I restart the computer. Still Google reports I’ve visited the page. Now it is time to investigate.

Google provides the following information

“If you aren't signed in to a Google Account, your search experience will be personalized based on past search information linked to a cookie on your browser. To disable these types of personalizations, follow these steps:

1. Visit google.com/history/optout when not signed in to a Google Account. (If you see the Google homepage, try visiting the link again.)
2. On the resulting page, click Disable customizations based on search activity. (Because this preference is stored in a cookie, it'll affect anyone else who uses the same browser and computer as you).

Or, if you'd rather just delete the current cookie storing searches from your browser and start fresh, clear your browser's cookies.

Note: If you've disabled signed-out search history personalization, you'll need to disable it again after clearing your browser cookies. Clearing your Google cookie clears your search settings, thereby turning history-based customizations back on.”

OK. Now I’ll use Disk Cleanup in Windows XP and see if that fixes the problem. This concerns me because it may mean there is an issue with deleting cookies in Internet Explorer 8. The suggestion by Google to clear the cookies doesn’t work.

I visit the following folder “C:\Documents and Settings\Acer\Local Settings\Temporary Internet Files” on my computer. The user in this case is “Acer”, so change this for your computer to the username you use. Also if you don’t see this folder you have to change the folder options to show hidden system files.

The problem is now fixed.  I no longer receive the message “You visited this page”.

In the end this is a problem with Internet Explorer 8. I’m not particularly fond of this feature which Google has provided, but others may find it handy. Personally I would have liked Google not to do this for me, but this is their choice and something I can’t control, short of using a different search engine.

For most people this won’t be a problem. For those who are paying a Search Engine Optimisation specialist to gain a better position in Google results, this may give them a false belief the work done by the Search Engine Optimisation specialist is working when it isn’t. I’ve seen some Search Engine Optimisation specialists use tricks to lead people to believe they’re better at gaining position on Google and this is another technique a disreputable SEO specialist may use.

Interestingly, after I’ve deleted the cookies, at this stage I’ve not been able to reproduce the problem by visiting the page a number of times. Even I find that strange.

Kelvin Eldridge
www.OnlineConnections.com.au
Call 0415 910 703 if your require computer support.
Servicing Templestowe, Doncaster, Eltham and the surrounding area.
As you can see, I also assist people with their internet presence.