Halfdeck - 1:04 am on Aug 28, 2006 (gmt 0)

Often a URL is already in the main index when you search for the current content, and only appears to be in the supplemental database when you search for some words that are in an old version of the content that used to be at that URL. That is, a page called /latest.events.html lists events happening in Spring. Later on, the page is updated: the Spring information is removed and the Summer stuff put in its place. Some weeks later: If you search for stuff matching any Summer events you see the URL as a normal result. However, if you search for any of the Spring events, the URL is returned as a Supplemental Result, the snippet shows Spring information, but both the cache and the real page only show Summer stuff.

Good point. As an example, I just took a unique snippet off a blog post I published on May 8, and ran it through Google, which returned /blog/ (my blog front page) listed as supplemental, though its listed in the main index if I run a site: search.

The cache is dated Aug 26, 2006, though the snippet I searched for is nowhere to be found (the latest entry on that page is July 17).

As you said earlier, every page in the main index seems to have its old shadow hiding in the supplemental index.

[edited by: Halfdeck at 1:18 am (utc) on Aug. 28, 2006]