How Does Google’s Data Center Influence SEO Ranks?
Google has multiple data centers, all of them possibly responding to the same search query with differing results. When the results vary, it indicates that Google is in the midst of updating its search index. SEOs wanting to observe the individual servers may find it useful for SEO optimization.
The free Multiple Datacenter Keyword Position Check tool from Developer Shed, allows you to watch the varied active servers. You can enter the URL and keyword or phrase, select the datacenter range and, if desired, select country and language to receive more specific results.
SEOs may, or may not, find the information helpful to know when servers are updating, though the relative position of keywords and phrases on the different servers could be useful information. When testing of this tool was attempted, it repeatedly resulted in either a) an additional request for “captcha” entry (a frequent annoyance with this company’s tools) or b) website not available. This may have been a temporary problem that has since been remedied.