I have a keyword ranking company that we paid 6 Grand to, to get us
listed in Google.  They claim that on june 29th, 2003 at 12:12pm for
the phrase "treatment program for wayward teen" that we were position
number two.  In less than a week we have gone from supposedly number
two, which we never saw, to number 160 for that exact phrase.

Is there a way in Google to pull up listing position history?  
Is there anyway I can pull up a report to verify position history for
the phrase "treatment program for wayward teen" on June 29, 2003 at
12:12 PM.

Greetings, zman!

First of all, I need to ask you some questions:
- exactly what results were you promised in your contract with this
company?
- for what duration were you promised that these results would last?
- what is the URL for your website?

In truth, NO company or person can **guarantee** specific Ranking
Results in Google. Companies or people who DO promise this are usually
scam artists, and are frequently doing things that break Google's
rules, and that can even get your site banned from Google's index!

As far as your Question about whether a snapshot of Ranking Results at
a given date and time is stored anywhere, the Answer is "No", and to
explain why, I'll use an article from Keith H. Hammonds for Fast
Company Magazine (Issue 69, p.74, April 2003):

"Google says it processes more than 150 million searches a day -- and
the true number is probably much higher than that."
http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/69/google.html

and an article "Google Bets The Ranch On Linux" by Mitch Wagner for
InternetWeek.com (May 30, 2000):
"Search engine Google has deployed 4,000 Linux servers, with plans to
increase to 6,000 this year, making it possibly the largest Linux
installation in the world."
http://www.internetwk.com/story/INW20000530S0004

(Note that those figures are more than 3 years old, and Google has
greatly increased its server capacity since then)

Because Google's Index currently contains information for more that 3
MILLION pages, it is absolutely huge -- so huge, in fact, that once
the monthly crawl of the web has been completed, it takes days and
days for the new index to be rolled out to their thousands and
thousands of servers all over the world. Meanwhile, when a user enters
a Search query, their request may be routed to any one of many
different servers, so they can actually get slightly different results
from one identical Search to the next, momemnt by moment. In fact,
there is probably never a moment when ALL the copies of Google's Index
on ALL of their servers around the world are all identical to each
other, because as soon as they finish one round, it's time to start
again.

So you can see why, with more than 150 MILLION Searches performed
every day, it is just not possible to store a snapshot of all those
Search results.

I can make two recommendations to you, however:

1) If you have a company attorney, get them started at looking at your
contract with this Search placement company; if not, then I encourage
to find and hire one with experience and expertise in Internet law
(and Search Engine Optimization litigation, if you can find such a
person). Determine whether they have made promises that they did not
keep -- or that they cannot prove that they met. Prepare a "deal" that
you take to this SEO firm that if they will refund $X from your fee,
you agree not to take further legal action. If they don't accept the
deal, take them to court.

2) Depending on the experience level of the person/company who
designed your website, you might benefit by posting a Question on
Google Answers requesting an evaluation to make your site more
friendly and attractive to the Googlebot. If you do this, you will
want to price your Question accordingly, based on how much in-depth
analysis and information you would like to receive. Google Answers'
Guidelines for Pricing Questions is here:
http://answers.google.com/answers/pricing.html


Search Strategy

"how many" google's servers "the world"
://www.google.com/search?q=%22how+many%22+google%27s+servers+%22the+world%22


I hope that you will find this information extremely helpful in terms
of deciding how you wish to proceed.

Best Wishes on improved Search Ranking Results for your site!

aceresearcher

---

Clarification of Answer by aceresearcher-ga on 12 Jul 2003 20:56 PDT

zman,

I encourage you to, every day or two, print off the Google Search
Results page on which your site appears (the Search should be on
whatever keywords you and the SEO firm agreed upon), and make sure
that each printout shows the "Results XX - XX of about XXX", as well
as the date. Keep these pages in a notebook, because you will need
them to help show that the SEO firm was not producing results for you.

As far as I can see, they were not doing any of the things that I
would have recommended be done to help increase your site's Page Rank
and thus, your Ranking in Search Engine results. Insist that they
provide you with a detailed document of exactly what steps they have
taken to promote your site.

Good Luck!

ace

Appreciate your quick response.  Although it was not what I wanted to
hear, what you have written makes good sense.  The company did not
guarantee listing, but they have done diddly squat for 6g's.  We have
a lawyer and are already in process of getting our money back.  In the
past we have handled all internet marketing in house, but for a new
site we decided to take a chance on a 3rd party company that is
publicly traded, if that means anything.  It's been a horrible
experience and now we are back to square one and pending battle. 
Thanks for your help.  The site we are trying to promote is:
http://www.troubled-teens.info/

zman123-ga 
Is absolutely correct regards guarantees, no reputable company would
give a guarantee.

One company www.aggrandise.com according to their website would not
even request money "upfront" for some niche search queries, I would
presume looking at results your query would fit the category, also
www.searchengineworld.com is a great resource for diy stuff.

Results will "dance around" from time to to time, and indeed the
company may be right, your search query may have made page 1, but for
a very short time.

But for 6k it seems unfortunately you have been tricked, and duped. I
would fight and not pay, unless of course now what you paid for is now
showing.

sammy