The top search queries report on Webmaster Tools just became fairly useless due to the social search functionality. Just logging into my account I see that I’m supposedly ranking as number 13 and 14 for the keywords “analytics google” and “google analytic“. That’s a truth that requires definition.
In the regular results, I would have been quite happy to gotten my humble blog post on Google Analytics exam into that ranking without any focused effort. But after having a quick look in the Google SERPs by performing the same query, and counting the results from 1-12, number 13 and 14 are results from my “social circle”. My own listing is no-where to be seen, making me draw the conclusion that my ranking was being pulled in by webmaster central when it recorded a click from someone in my social circle. Not that helpful for webmasters, unless it explains this by separating position data from social and general results.
According to Google webmaster tools top search queries this site ranks in number 13 and 14 for two Google analytics related queries...
...however, my Google Social Circle results for the query "google analytic" starts at position 13
Does anyone have any experience of this, to confirm or rebut my thoughts?
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Hi Magnus,
I had made similar observations about the rankings in webmaster tools being not reflective of what I was seeing but has put this down to personalised search in general… I hadn’t noticed any of the social circle results for the sites in question but will dig deeper and try to return with another comment.