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Changing num=10 to num=1 in a Google search URL gives you unclustered results. (Clustering is why if you're reading at 10 results per result page, and two URLs from the same site are both in the top 10, the two URLs always appear together and with the second indented.)
Example use, writing #n for clustered rank and *n for unclustered rank:
I've been #3 and #4 for my favorite keyword for a long time, while another site has been #1 and #2 for as long as I can remember. In unclustered results, I'm *2 and *5 (*2 and *6 before Cassandra) while he's *1 and *3 (*1 and *3 before Cassandra). These unclustered ranks show that I'm fairly close to getting the #1 spot (I wouldn't be close if he had both *1 and *2). They also show that I moved up slightly in Cassandra, which isn't visible in clustered results.
While switching to num=1 prevents clustering, it doesn't seem to allow more than two URLs from the same site to appear in the same search.
Why haven't I thought of that?
I now know that 8 + 9 is made up of 7 + 10 and 4 + 5 still makes 4 + 5 :)
When I change to num=1 I get just one result. num=2 two results, a.s.o.
But always in the same order as with num=10.
What's wrong?
From the basic search URL,
[google.com...]
where are you looking?
George
If you set num=1 and keep clicking next, you can find out what positions the URLs are at.
Nice find jesserud!
Why-didn't-I-think-of-this-before?
Vitaplease, if I search from there we rule our search phrases, very different results than from google. Were you trying to tel us something?
I haven't been able to find a 'num=' anything. Can someone post a sample URL for the dunb guy in class?
I like looking at Serps showing my site's pages from results 1 to 10 :)
Why does it do that?
Its nice to see how your other pages (third in ranking etc) are doing relative to others.
I've found num=10 using G's advanced search.
Right, I'd stuck a somewhat random num=1 into the string and got the same result. What I see is the same serp, just one result at a time. This for a few of my searches, you guys actually see something different this way?
(granted the indents are gone)
<edit>Okay, I managed a search where something is different. Some of the indented ones actually left the SERP </edit>
From that and since my sites indented one's didn't disappear, I can conclude that my indented one's are good enough to be there on there own, I guess.
When determining the rank of a result, be sure to look at the blue bar which says "Results 6-6 of..." (etc) rather than &start= in the URL, because start is one less than the number of the first result shown.
Sorry for not posting an example before, I was trying to avoid indirectly "linking" to my site. Here are some examples where my sites don't appear in serps:
fuzzy widgets: webmasterworld #2 and #3, and is indeed *2 and *3 in unclustered results.
open-source: opensource.org is #1 and #2, but unclustered is *1 and *4.
usenet: faqs.org is #2 and #3, ibiblio is #4 and #5. Unclustered, faqs *2 and *7, ibiblio *3 and *10.
vitaplease: From the search "open-source" (and also my unposted "favorite search term"), it looks like [aol.co.uk...] is clustered. The difference between Google and aoluk is that aoluk does not limit searches to 2 URLs per hostname.
