Google Showing Only Top 10 Results, No Page 2 - Bug or New Feature?

[maximillianos]

I'm seeing something strange with my Google searching right now.

I am only getting one page of results, and no links to view additional pages of SERPs.

Very strange. Anyone else seeing this?

[anallawalla]

I saw this or a variation of this on my work laptop. I could not get more than 10 results to stick in the Settings. It would say that the settings were saved but I'd still get 10 results (FF and IE6). However, I got the pagination and could turn the pages.

Being in a bank, I thought this was just some aspect of a policy restriction, reported it to the corporate help desk and after being escalated, yesterday I got the 100 results to stick. Made me look like a typical user. :)

Maybe this is all part of various split tests.

Glad not to be running a traditional SEO agency with customers who need ranking reports...

[jimbeetle]

I saw this or a variation of this on my work laptop. I could not get more than 10 results to stick in the Settings. It would say that the settings were saved but I'd still get 10 results (FF and IE6). However, I got the pagination and could turn the pages.

I was having that hassle for the week or two before the Instant roll-out. Settings would not always stick during a browser session, and most often were lost when after closing a session in FF and IE8-32&64.

Thought it might be a problem with thins machine and after tt became such a hassle that I was seriously thinking about a clean XP install on a new drive.

Everything set back to normal a day or two after Instant was introduced.

[buckworks]

Nobody click on second page ads anyhow, would it make any difference?

People do click on second page ads. Not as many as the first page, obviously, but second page ads do get clicks.

[ember]

Seeing it only in IE with instant search on. If I turn instant search off, the second page and beyond options show up. In Firefox, second page is showing up with instant search on or off.

[tonynoriega]

I have instant search ON. I see page links at the bottom. IE8.

[freejung]

People do click on second page ads.

That right there is a pretty good argument as to why Google won't make this stick. The increase in revenue from bidding wars might not be enough to compensate for all of the adwords advertisers who were willing to pay for a spot on page 2 and who would now leave the program, being unable to afford page 1. Perhaps that is part of what Google is testing, to see how much revenue is lost from lost page 2 clicks versus increased revenue from more page 1 clicks.

However, I think the most probable explanation is p5gal5's. Google is trying to force users to refine their searches to see what they will search for. If that's the case, it will probably only be deployed sporadically, just enough to get good data, not enough to seriously alienate users.

[outland88]

Just in time for the holiday shopping season..

heartless and greedy.

The holiday Adword bidders have already begun forcing the prices way up in my areas for the holidays. They know they'll be paying 6-10 dollars a click for their initial bids if they wait till November to save Christmas. Meanwhile this fast access is slowly beginning to drive prices up anyway.

[renzo008]

It is not a glitch.

I've just been testing with it and it look like Google made some sophisticated system to stop pagination in some queries.

Sometimes i can browse to page 2, but then the pagination is gone. At the bottom of the page you can redefine your search with some predefined searches you also find in suggest.

It is weird but interesting. Google's goal is to make your way to your final destination as short as possible. This is one of there ways.

On the other end, i also love good old CB pages with animated gifs who you can only found on SERPS page 81 :)

[freejung]

Hey, here's a silver lining for adsense publishers if this does stick - all those adwords advertisers who can't afford to be on page 1 will be taking another look at the content network.

[ken_b]

I can't see this "feature".

Does it show on a wide variety of queries, or is it a narrow spectrum?

[Simsi]

Can't see this sticking. There are plenty of times when you need/want to go past Page 1. I had an example recently where I was searching for a rare record: all the top serps are shops with current stuff by said artist. What I wanted was only ever going to be in the hands of a collector and sure enough, buried deep I found one.

Commercial searches might largely be safe, but research and niche searches are the ones that would mostly suffer IMO. Can't see Google wanting to alienate those users even if they are trying all these ways to bolster adwords income right now.

[drall]

Seeing it now, east coast US. Stunned, just blown away. WTH, first they get rid of the search field at the bottom of the page which every technical person I know complains about and now they get rid of every page but page 1 results?

Lets see,

- caff, which seems to actually have caused slower updating imho
- mayday, which I dont even want to rant on about
- instant, instantly annoying and should have an anti-seizure warning
- copied Bings layout, reduced traffic to all results
- image search Bing ripoff overhaul that basically leechs images and sends nothing to web publishers

and now.... thats right, if your on anything but page 1 your royally screwed!

Have a happy holidays everyone!

[Robert Charlton]

...I've just been testing with it and it look like Google made some sophisticated system to stop pagination in some queries.

Sometimes i can browse to page 2, but then the pagination is gone. At the bottom of the page you can redefine your search with some predefined searches you also find in suggest.

renzo008 - Thanks for that description. I wonder if this is a continuation of Google's attempts to suggest alternative queries when the searched query looks, eg, like a misspelling, and...

a) Google doesn't like the "quality" of the pages that do match the query...
b) and a close match returns satisfactory results

The annoying spelling corrections were discussed here...

A Red "Did you mean: ____" Shows in Google Drop Down Suggestion
http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/4178034.htm [webmasterworld.com]

Note that there's a side effect with these corrections, not quite voiced explicitly, that Google may see this both as a way to return useful results in the case of spelling mistakes, and as a way to frustrate (some affiliate) sites trying to target misspellings with otherwise thin machine-generated sites.

If so, the "feature" may not affect research type searches. I haven't seen examples.

I should add, btw, that all of the examples we discussed earlier (ie, in June), particularly the tumbler searches, were distorted enough both in number of matching pages and search frequency by our discussions, that they quickly ceased to be useful examples... so it's probably not a good idea to cite examples here.

I am wondering, though, whether these searches fit the pattern I describe.

[Reno]

Lets see,

- caff...
- mayday...
- instant...
- copied Bing...
- image search...

Though it may feel like it, the fact is they are not making this up as they go along. Google employs smart people in every aspect of their company, so you can bet the farm that all this stuff has been discussed within their inner chambers to the nth degree. Point is ---> it's all purposefully part of a well thought-out business plan and in all likelihood we will see more in the coming months. Google in 09/10 is quite different from Google 09/09, and Google 09/11 may not even be recognizable from what we knew just a few short years ago. To quote John Lennon:

"The dream is over,
What can I say?
The dream is over...
You just have to carry on,
The dream is over."

..........................

[freejung]

For me it appears to be query-independent. I just tried some research-grade searches, still no pagenation.

I'm on a different IP now, incidentally, Denver metro area.

[freejung]

The dream is over

Evolution is either tautological or meaningless. That which survives survives. Adapt or die.

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

Google doesn't make mistakes, page one or die.

[backdraft7]

I am on page one, for hundreds, if not thousands of key phrases, yet I am dying...sorry, but from where I'm standing Google DOES make mistakes. It's currently FUBAR for us!

[CenSin]

After reading this discussion, I guess I know why there is sudden spike in traffic to my site recently.

Since for some keywords, the site is on page one, and there is no other pages. There is a more chance visitor will choose one from the single result page.

[Reno]

Adapt or die.

The road is going to be littered with webmasters who will not adapt. I don't know what's going on with Google and candidly I'm not exactly happy, but they don't ask me my opinion so like everyone else here I'm simply trying to make sense of it all. At this point, it makes very little sense, other than the impact on their bottom line, which must be making the majority stockholders very very happy. In fact, since the IPO it almost appears that the accountants pretty much call the shots, and the engineers follow accordingly, and if that's true, then it may explain everything we need to know about what they are doing: We are thinking as webmasters, and they are thinking as bean counters ... classic oil & water.

................

[newborn]

Can I get a sample search term for this and an IP because Im in the international realm and not seeing that.

[backdraft7]

The real question is: adapt to what? Google's just making their black box bigger & more mysterious.

[web_india]

I too am seeing it sometimes but only at google.com searches mostly when I am doing different searches quickly (without clicking at any of the results) and changing my queries 4-5 times in a short duration.

It could be that google now knows (especially after having the data since google instant) that most of the time only advanced users go beyond page 1, so its better to get rid of the non-revenue pagination & turn it into money making ad estate instead.

[jekko]

This article is interesting

"But figuring out what the user is feeling also turns out to have implications for user happiness and search success. So Google's researchers have been studying how users behave when they're having a hard time conducting a successful search for information.

Like bad poker players, frustrated searchers have tells, behaviors that betray their thoughts."

[informationweek.com...]

[Green_Grass]

They ban sites from adsense and adWords which have bad navigation. They give the excuse that it is bad user experience ( because users are defacto forced to click ads to get out of the sites).. But then they go and do the same with their SERPS ? unbelievable..I guess they learned this trick from various sites they banned on the adSense / adwords side and then qucikly adapted this same model in the SERPS.. talk about hypocricy..

[hughmac]

I have seen this as well when doing a run of intitle and inurl keyword searches. (UK) Didn't realise at the time that this was deliberate because i was focusing on keyword research. Wonder if it just kicks in when you do multiple searches in a short space of time around the same subject?

Dont know about anyone else but i find myself using page two and beyond more and more these days. I find the page one results are often relevant but way out of date and i have to dig deeper into the serps to find more recent results which i find rather odd!

[shri]

End of quarter revenue sprint or pre-holiday testing.

Seriously though, how do such things get past internal user testing and into the public hands?

[creative craig]

Not seeing it at the moment in South Africa on .com or .co.za I also have interests in Ireland and its not showing up on .ie either.

Thats with instant on and off and both IE and FF

[Shaddows]

Seriously though, how do such things get past internal user testing and into the public hands?

I can't remember the stats for people who look beyond page 1, but it's low. From a user POV, this is not very disruptive, and will encourage use of refinement in the "cool, new Instant feature". Why click through endless pages of unrefined links, when you can type another word and get exactly what you want?

Now, reality may not coincide with the theory when it comes to results, but the fact is users will not be distressed, will learn to refine, and will adapt.

For us, the opposite is true. Beyond the constant moaning about the unfairness of Google, webmasters should be addressing the questions raised, such as:
How can you judge your website success until it hits the top 0.00001%?
How can you recognise algo changes?
How can you determine if you are penalised or merely not good enough?
How does this effect you ROI calculation- should you shut down a project early, or continue wasting money hoping it pops up on SERP. (That's SERP, singular)
ADWORDS- bid war, or go longtail.
Longtail- MUCH more searches will be longtail due to refinement- how can you adapt?

[seoN00B]

can u guys show some screenshots?