A least‐squares analysis is performed on simulated satellite altimeter data to investigate the separability of global ocean tide information from a noisy signal containing systematic orbit error. Numerical solutions of the Laplace Tidal Equations for the principal tidal constituents are used to generate the observed measurements based on simulated four‐day SEASAT orbits over a 200‐day interval. The global ocean tide is modeled as a sum of constituents represented by harmonic expansions, and the orbit error model parameters and tide model parameters are adjusted simultaneously. Good recovery of principal features of the numerical ocean tide solutions are obtained only when the systematic orbit error is adequately modeled in the estimation procedure.