Why your Google Search results might differ from other people

You may get the same or similar results to someone else who searches on Google Search. But sometimes, Google may give you different results based on things like time, context, or personalized results.

Time causes differences in results

Time may be one of the biggest reasons why results vary between people. For example, we regularly add new content from the web soon after it’s published. Those who search a few hours or even a few minutes apart may find variations because of newly available content.

There are data centers around the world that Search uses. When we make an improvement to our ranking systems, it takes time for these to fully roll out to all our data centers. This can produce differences in results depending on which data center is responding to your search.

Search uses context to improve results

When Search considers the context of your search, it gives more relevant results. Some examples of context are:

• Location: If you search pizza in a particular city, you get results relevant to that location.
• Language: Helps you get results in the language you speak.
• Device type: Links to the correct app store or shows the best results based on your screen type, like mobile or desktop.
• Related results: After you click a web result and return back to the search results, you can find more related results.

Search uses personalization to improve results

Personalization is when you get Search results tailored to you based on your activity. Personalization is only used in your results if it can provide more relevant and helpful information. This doesn’t affect all Search results. Instead, some results might be personalized while others aren’t. Learn more about personalization and Google Search results.