More results for more results per page?

Ranked 8th with 10 results, 9th for 20 results...

[steveb]

For a one word keyword I see a site ranked 8th when 10 results per page are displayed, 9th for 20 results per page and 1oth for 100 results per page. The additional two results are sub-pages of two of the sites above.

I searched the archives, and maybe I'm a dip, but I've never noticed this before. My normal Google default search is set to display 20 results per page, when I use a site that checks www www2 and www3 simultaneously I display 100 results. Doing this has been giving me these "expanded" results that show the sub-pages. When I use the DNS numbers though, it only displays ten results, and those do not have the sub-pages, and of course that will be the results most people will see.

Has this always been the case? Displaying more results per page getting you some sub-pages that most searchers won't see?

[gsx]

I've noticed this in the past. If the site ranked 10th has two relevant results, GG does not display the second if only 10 results per page are selected. Going to the next page starts with a new site.

20 per page does show the second listing for result number 10 and therefore sites below it appear to be lower.

I always count the number of SITES and not the number of results given to determine if results have got better or worse.