His website is www.Door.net.nz and his rankings were:

• door knob – 1 & 2
• door knobs – 2
• door handles – 2
• door handle – 2
• door lock – 3

But using free software called RankChecker, I was able to get his his ranking for these keywords without Google distorting the rankings with personalisation.

His true rankings are:

• door knob – 13
• door knobs – 15
• door handles – 39
• door handle – 36
• door lock – 41

This is the most dramatic example of “Google Search Personalisation” that I have seen.

How did this happen? Why are the results so different?

Did you know that if you have a Google account and you are logged in when you are doing Google searches, then your search results are personalised to you?

Google has been doing this for years, but recently even people without Google accounts who are not logged in are having their search results personalised to them.

Why is Google doing this?

Because Google wants to show you results that you like, so they are collecting data every time you do a search and monitoring what results you click on. So next time you do a similar search, they will show those results higher in the rankings.

Thats exactly what happened to my friend.

This means, that it is even more important to use a third party rank checking tool such as RankTracker or CuteRank to check the search engine rankings of your website.

Related Articles:

• Think you know the rank for your website in Google? No you don’t
• Another Way To Check The Rank of Your Website In Google

Since I just started giving away my Search Engine Optimisation ebook for free, I might as well share my list of NZ directories too.

The funny thing about free online directories is that they might be free to get a link on them back to your website, but it can cost you the most precious resource of all – TIME.

Some registration processes can take up to 30 minutes to work through.

Is the pay-back (in terms of a high quality back-link) justify the cost of your labour?

Sometimes it doesn’t.

But you’re in luck, my list is here to help.

Why is it important to add your website to these directories?

Because every link back to your website is an indication to Google that your website is important.

This search engine optimisation technique is often called “link-building” or “back-linking”.

The best place to start your link building is by using human edited directories because Google favours them.

List of The Best FREE Online NZ Directories (In Priority Order):

1. Dmoz.org (New Zealand)
   • Worldwide directory actually, but has 2-thumbs-up from Google, so put a link to your website here first (and it can take ages before it is approved so you might as well start the process now)
2. Finda.co.nz
   • In my opinion the very best online directory in New Zealand. An official Google partner. Automatic submission to Google Maps, UBD.co.nz & Wises.co.nz. Easy to use. Good looking profile pages
3. NZS.com (“New Zealand Search”)
   • Really good quality. Great looking graphics. Good profile pages.
4. HotFrog.co.nz
   • Impressive presence in Google.co.nz for a variety of searches.
5. Zenbu.co.nz
   • Very cool map-based business directory.
6. MadeFromNewZealand.com
   • High quality. Lots of features.
7. NZPages.co.nz
   • Good, clean, “minimalist” directory.
8. Google Local Business Centre
   • After your free Finda listing has placed a marker on Google Maps for you, “claim” your business using Google LBC and add more details about your business
9. Yalwa.co.nz
   • Global directory, with dedicated subdomains to New Zealand cities.  Free text in the description field, you can add hyperlinks (this is rare)
10. NZWebZ.co.nz
    • Ok
11. ZipLeaf.co.nz
    • “In growing stages, clean/sharp graphics, up to date functions. Promising” – [Thanks to James for his review]
12. NZDirectory.co.nz
    • “Clean/sharp graphics, up to date functions, PR 5 with a lots of categories with PR 4/3, Alexa rank isn’t too bad either” – [Thanks to James for his review]

Quality Non-NZ Directories That ARE Worth Your Time:

1. AboutUs.org
2. Squidoo.com

Criteria For The Best NZ Directories:

To get on the official list above, the directory must meet most of these criteria:

1. Does Google like it?
   • Does the directory often appear in Google.co.nz Search Engine Results for a variety of NZ searches?
   • How good are the directories own Search Engine Rankings?
   • What SEO techniques does the directory use?
2. Is the process of adding my website to the directory easy, intuitive and quick?
3. Will it provide a clean hyperlink to my website?
   • “No-follow” hyperlinks are of little use to us
   • Redirection “tracker” hyperlinks are not as good
4. Is the website approval time short?
5. Are the other websites in the directory high quality? (Eg, have the webmasters let spammy websites through?)
6. Can I specify my own anchor text for my hyperlink?

Other NZ Directories That ARE NOT Worth Your Time

1. NZSearch.co.nz & SearchNZ.co.nz
   • 5 years ago these directories were great because there was little else to choose from, but the web developers abandoned it long ago and it has slowly rotted away.  Badly in need of an overhaul.
2. PiperPat.co.nz
   • Crude, old, but effective (Page Rank 6!). But I have had no response to my requests for additions for over 6 months.

Other NZ Directories I Haven’t Reviewed Yet

If you have used any of them, please write a short review of your own, in the comments below.

1. SearchZone.co.nz (Looks promising actually, worth a closer look)
2. Gopher.co.nz (Worth a closer look)
3. SosNow.co.nz
4. DirectoryNZ.net
5. NZWebs.co.nz
6. NZsbDirectory.co.nz (NZ Small Business Directory and Travel Guide)
7. WebsiteDirectory.co.nz
8. WebLinks.NewZealand.co.nz
9. AccessNZ.co.nz
10. BizNZ.com
11. NewZealandWebsites.com
12. IndexNZ.com (Ghastly!)
13. KiwiDirectory.co.nz
14. LinkNow.co.nz (Hideous)
15. BizDirectoryNZ.com
16. GoNZoz.com
17. Go4NewZealandBusiness.com
18. FindMe.net.nz
19. FindItOnline.co.nz
20. mKiwi.com

List of NZ Directories You Have To Pay For:

For the sake of completeness I thought I better start a list of “paid-inclusion” directories too, so here it is.

1. Yellow.co.nz
2. WorkBoot.co.nz
3. iLook.co.nz

Is There a New Zealand Directory Missing?

What other New Zealand directories do you think should be added to any of these lists? Add them in the comments below.

Earlier this month, Google announced that is going to begin to personalise your search results even when you are not logged in.

This means that if you often check the ranking of your website in Google, don’t be surprised if you see your website climbing up the rankings – but don’t be happy, because it is only climbing up the rankings from your point of view, everybody else will see your website at a much lower ranking!

So what can you do to check the ranking of your website in Google?

In my previous article I recommended RankTracker for getting an unbiased ranking for your website in a Google search.

I have recently come across an alternative: CuteRank

4 Advantages of using CuteRank to check the ranking of your website in Google

1. You can type in your url, the keywords and choose the Search Engines you want to check all on one page (RankTracker forces you through a “wizard” interface with several steps)
2. The free version lets you save the results for one website (RankTracker doesn’t let you do any saving)
3. When you install CuteRank, you aren’t asked to install other software at the same time (RankTracker is pretty pushy in that department)
4. CuteRank saves your search engines choices (RankTracker defaults to a American-centric  list)

2 Criticisms of CuteRank

1. The interface emphasises the history of your rank, rather than drawing attention to today’s ranking
2. Google.co.nz results are available but not “pages from New Zealand” (but probably coming)

Conclusion

I propose you install both and decide for yourself which style you like better. But the important thing is that either is better than checking the ranking of your website in Google yourself, because your search results are increasingly personalised for you so your view of reality is distorted.

It doesn’t see your pretty images, or flash, or javascript.

It only sees text.

Google has just added a new feature to Webmaster Tools that shows you exactly what GoogleBot sees.

To use Webmaster Tools you will need to sign up, and verify you own your website.

Then you can find it under the “Labs” tab, click on “Fetch as Googlebot”.

What will you see?

1. You’ll see the html source of your webpage (which you can do using your browser by clicking on “View Source”)
2. Response code (Eg 200 which means everything is fine, or 301 which means “temporary redirect”)
3. What type of server your website is on (Eg Apache or IIS/Windows)
4. Any scripts or CSS files which are called and included

Boring?

Yeah it is actually.

How you can use that to improve your Search Engine Optimisation

The point I want to make is that Google gobbles up text for breakfast.

• So if your main navigation is javascript, Googlebot probably can’t read it
• If you have text in your images, Googlebot can’t read it
• If you have keywords in your meta title, meta description, headings and content, you’re on to a winner.

Have no idea what I’m talking about?

4 Things You Can Do to Improve Your Search Engine Optimisation:

1. Free SEO Review of Your Website. Get tips to improve the search engine friendliness of your website, for free
2. The Search Engine Optimisation E-Book. Learn how to do SEO yourself with this low-cost ebook
3. Customised SEO Report for you and your website. Find out exactly what you need to do next to improve your Search Engine ranking
4. Search Engine Advertising with Google Adwords. Find out how you can buy a steady stream of pre-qualified prospects to your website