On this week’s edition of The Engaging Marketeer, I was asked quite an interesting question that doesn’t have an obvious answer.
Somebody asked me in our EngageWeb.Club group on Facebook, “does it matter what time of the day it is for where you rank in Google?”
So, for example, if you were to search for something at 10:00am, would you have different results if it was 5:00pm?
It’s not that easy a question to answer, to be honest with you. Because, initially, the answer is no – it doesn’t really matter, as the time of day isn’t relevant for Google when you’re making a search. However, it’s not quite that simple.
You see, if you were to make searches for your own business, and you were searching for your own company, and you wanted to see where you were ranking, and you were checking a particular keyword regularly throughout the day – then, the more you searched for it and clicked on your own result, for example, to say “oh, look where I’m ranking, aren’t I doing well?”, Google is effectively going to know that that’s the result you’re looking for – so, that’s what you want to see.
If you were, for example, ranking at position 12 for this particular search, and then you checked again at 2:00pm, then again at 4:00pm, and kept clicking on it throughout the day, Google’s going to know that this is the result you want – that this is what you’re looking for. So, it’ll put it higher, and it’ll appear higher only for you – not for other people.
So, you’re kind of creating your own little bubble of results, where you think you’re doing really well, when in fact you’re not, because everyone else is seeing it naturally, as it should be.
That’s the first thing – you’re effectively influencing the results you’re getting by constantly searching for the same thing and clicking on it.
The other thing to think about is that Google’s algorithm does fluctuate hundreds – thousands – of times a day. It’s constantly moving and changing, therefore if you make a search early in the morning, and you make a search later in the evening, the results can – and probably will – be different. That’s not because it’s the time of day, though – that’s because it naturally updates. Things have changed things, things have moved on, so you’re not going to get the same results consistently throughout the day.
Again, that’s nothing to do with the time of day. However, there is a third factor which IS to do with the time of day, and it’s not related to Google Organic Search – it’s related to Google Paid Search.
The scenario where time of day DOES matter
So, for example – and this is really common with a lot of businesses – if you’re doing paid search with Google Ads, and you have a limited daily budget, and your budget expires before the day is out, what that means is that when you or your target clients are searching for you in the morning, they’ll find you.
But, if your budget runs out before the end of the day, which is quite common, then you won’t appear. So, someone else will be in your place – therefore, the rankings will change throughout the day. And that IS related to the time of day, because it happens as the day goes on, and you then won’t appear back where you were until the budget resets the next day.
So, if your budget is too tight, then yes, you’ll disappear, and you’ll lose rankings. That can actually have quite a negative impact on your business.
Let’s say you run a bistro in Chester. Someone might be doing a search for a bistro in Chester for work, and they see you, and they think, “oh, I’ll book that later – after work, when the boss isn’t watching me.”
Then, when they get home, they do a search now that they have more time, and you’re nowhere to be seen. Now, there’s a different bistro in Chester that’s taken your place, because you haven’t set the budget sufficiently to last throughout the day – which means you lose the client, you lose the booking, and you lose the business.
I think that kind of answers the question. It was an interesting one, and I think other than the obvious answer of “no, it doesn’t”, there are instances when actually, it does.
I’m not sure whether I’ve really cleared that one up in any way, shape or form, but I hope it’s been helpful, at least just to show how fluid Google actually is. The search engine will change throughout the day, throughout the week, throughout the month – it is in constant in flux, and you cannot take your eyes off it, whether that’s organic search or paid.
Well, I hope that’s been useful and that you’ve enjoyed this one. I’d love you to leave me a rating, by the way, if you haven’t rated this podcast already – so jump on Apple, Spotify, YouTube – wherever you are – and leave me a rating, I’d love to hear from you.
I’ll catch you on the next episode of The Engaging Marketeer!
About your host:
Darren has worked within digital marketing since the last century, and was the first in-house web designer for video games retailer GAME in the UK, known as Electronics Boutique in the States. After co-founding his own agency, Engage Web, in 2009, Darren has worked with clients around the world, including Australia, Canada and the USA.
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Engaging Marketeer: https://engagingmarketeer.com
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