http://sphinn.com/story/54200

In response to Barry's post on SEL:

http://searchengineland.com/080620-081736.php

John Muller:

Matt Cutts:

Strange, he said they do take it into account, then he reversed himself and said they do not. I don't buy the different data centers answer. I tested searches with and without capitalizing the first letter and I saw different results every time over and over. There are fluctuations on may searches that I tested. Some sites dropped as many as 12 places when I capitalized the first letter.

__________________
John Allen
Realtor®/Broker
Allen Real Estate Services, Inc.
Sarasota, Florida
Representing buyers and sellers of fine Sarasota real estate.

Running queries on Google doesn't qualify as a test.

Whether it is your definition of a "test" or not, many results vary on Google searches with or without capitalization.

__________________
John Allen
Realtor®/Broker
Allen Real Estate Services, Inc.
Sarasota, Florida
Representing buyers and sellers of fine Sarasota real estate.

And that fact by itself says nothing.

I've known John Muller for years - before he joined Google. He's one of the smartest guys I've known online and now he's got access to Google's back end. He's also a stricker for facts - he used to say don't trust what you read, not even what SEO authorities write - test them yourself.

I'd be an idiot to rely on an opinion of one real estate agent who doesn't even know enough HTML/PHP/MYSQL to build his own site over a piece of info coming from John.

Seems like a sensitive subject - not sure it warranted such a slam????

Why not take John's advice and not rely on either opinion and test them yourself?

I'm not sure why running several different queries using several different keywords doesn't count as a test - seems like you can easily have a constant and a variable. Either way, I've read some of John's stuff (and have heard about him) and I'll agree that he's definitely someone worth trusting.

After doing a few non-tests, it looks like their are less differences than when I checked several months ago -

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Well, you can still run the same search twice although I don't see the point of getting different results if I capitalize a letter or not.

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The greatest barrier to success is the fear of failure. - Sven Goran Eriksson

Hitting the same datacenter (easy enough using IP addresses vs. a straight DNS lookup) using the same query, capitalized vs noncapitalized, certainly seems to be a valid test.

That comment from Halfdeck about 'being an idiot' was out of line and unnecessary. I doubt Halfdeck meant it the way I read it, but still...

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Lydia Taylor, Realtor & Broker

Augusta GA Real Estate | North Augusta SC Real Estate | Augusta GA Home Search