How to quickly check rankings without getting fooled by Google.

Sometimes you want to make a quick "ghetto" ranking check. That is, you don't want to use any software (like market samurai etc.), you simply want to quickly check rankings in your browser.

This is especially true if you know you are on the first page and you just want to quickly check some movement in rankings.

The problem here:

* Google cookies (personalized settings) can fool you. It could look like you are ranking for something while in reality its only the Google personalized settings which show a site higher than what it is for other people.

* Geographic location if the user. If you are in UK or anywhere else and want to check the results for USA. Not always easy.

Quick workaround:

In Firefox you press "Ctrl-Shift-P" which is a short-cut for turning on "private browsing". This disables ANY tracking and cookies.

Then you go to:

Google.com and if you are OUTSIDE the states you go to

google.com/ncr <-----

This is a little trick which sets your Google to the US google. Note not to use a slash "/" after the "ncr" part.

Now you can check your rankings and it should be pretty accurate.