

While imperfect, this typically results in a good estimation that you see in rank tracking reports.

SEO ranking tools try to account for these personalization factors by using sophisticated methods to de-personalize search and simulate "average" results. The end result is that two people may never see the same "ranking" result no matter how many times they search. For example, Google tends to deliver different results to people based on thousands of different factors, including: This is because of the amount of personalization on the SERPs. The challenge with traditional keyword ranking is that it's very hard for an individual to do on a personal computer or phone. It tries to answer the question of keyword performance at an individual level by asking "What's my search engine ranking?" This is "classic" organic keyword tracking.
