Device Setting is the desktop or mobile search context RankGear asks the provider to emulate when it collects a SERP. It tells the search data source which device class the results should reflect, because the ranking of pages for the same query often differs between the two.
| Term | Device Setting |
|---|---|
| Category | Search and SERP Data |
| Also known as | Device |
| Where it appears | Analysis Run search settings |
What it means in RankGear
When you configure an Analysis Run, Device Setting sits among the search settings that define exactly which SERP RankGear should pull, alongside provider, country, language, and location. Search engines return different rankings to a phone than to a laptop, so RankGear records the device you requested and applies it to every provider call in that run. The results, the workbook, and any saved report all reflect that one device context, which is why the setting is captured as part of the run rather than left implicit.
How to interpret it
Read Device Setting as one component of a SERP’s full localization fingerprint. A ranking only means something next to the exact context that produced it, so before you compare two runs, confirm that device matches along with provider, country, language, location, requested depth, and completeness. A page sitting third on mobile and eleventh on desktop is not a contradiction; it is two measurements of two different result sets. Choose the device that matches the audience you actually care about, and hold it constant across the runs you intend to compare over time.
| Value | What it tells you |
|---|---|
| Desktop | Rankings as returned to a desktop or laptop browser context. |
| Mobile | Rankings as returned to a smartphone context, which for many queries is the results set most users actually see. |
Example
Suppose you run a Top 20 analysis for “emergency plumber near me” set to Mobile, United States, English, in a specific city. Gathering twenty positions may take several provider calls, and every one of those calls carries the same Mobile device context so the assembled SERP is internally consistent. If you later re-run the same query on Desktop and the competitor order shifts, that shift is the device difference at work, not a change in the underlying pages.
Important considerations
- Search results change over time and by location, device, provider, and personalization context, so a device-specific ranking is a snapshot, not a fixed property of a page.
- Keep Device Setting identical across runs you plan to compare; mixing desktop and mobile results makes any position change ambiguous.
- Provider metrics collected under a device context are comparative indicators of what that provider returned, not Google ranking scores, and no device setting causes a page to rank better.
Related terms
Part of the RankGear glossary · how RankGear measures · the 870 factors.