First page showing 9 "real" results instead of 10

[londrum]

Don't know if this is new, but I haven't heard it mentioned before...

If you're holding on to spot number 10 in the SERPs then prepare to be disappointed, because i've just noticed that Google have demoted position 10 to page 2.

I did a search for "beatles" and there's only 9 links on the first page. the missing link (position 3) seems to have been taken over by Google videos, which just points the user to another one of google's search pages.

i tried a few more search terms and it seems to apply whenever google has some relavant videos (but not always). other search terms, like "widgets" are still showing 10.

how long before the image link takes over a position in the SERPs as well? then there will only be 8 on the front page.

[tedster]

I see it too - but it seems like some special situation. Even the search for [Rolling Stones] shows a full set of ten results plus Universals.

[londrum]

i think it might be quite widespread because i've found some more popular ones on different subjects.

search for "nintendo 3ds" and there's only 9 on the front page there as well.

and the same with "justin bieber" (im not a fan, i hasten to add, i just thought it would be a popular search term!)

google's video link is occupying the remaining spot, despite only pointing to another search page.

[SEOMike]

I just checked a band called The Shins and there are only 8 "real" results on the page. The rest images and videos. However, a search for the band called The Killers produced 9 organic results plus videos, images, news, and books. Still seeing 10 results for most commercial searches though. Looks like Google is peppering in what they think people want to see for certain searches - news, books, videos, and images.

[tedster]

Did some more checking - yes, it is widespread, apparently when there is more than one kind of universal or blended search result added in - especially video. But so far I'm not sure of the pattern for when it's only 8 or 9.

Could it be that the videos for some queries are so popular that they are considered an organic result, rather than a blended result?

[aakk9999]

Has anybody got SERP of only 4 or 5 entries? And I do not mean that the rest is videos/images, etc. What I get is search results page with only 4 or 5 results, taking only half of the screen. Paginating to page 2 then shows 10 results, clicking back on page 1 then reverts back to 10 results on the first page.

I get this occasionally since Google Instant has been introduced, it is random for random queries. It happens more often when I type fast - I took it as a bug on Google's part but who knows...

[tedster]

I remember getting some of those short pages last year - as you said, right after Instant was launched. Nothing recently, but I avoid searching with the browsers where I have Instant turned on - so I don't get much chance, either.

I also thought it was a bug. That has to be some complex code!

[TheMadScientist]

Well since people are going to 'spill the beans' about it, I might as well throw this out: I'm sure the 4 results is a 'bug' that most likely results from the JavaScript not making the call or connection to get the rest of the information.

What's it say about those first 4 results and how they store their data to you?
I find it very interesting. The first 4 results always seem to load...

[tedster]

Interesting observation. So if some positions are being integrated from the "universal results" servers, it could account for partial results if an import call fails.

If every SERP is created by a complex interaction of several hundred servers, your idea about a bug makes sense to me for the very short pages. I don't see that being the case for these 8 and 9 entry pages, however. They are intentional and repeatable.

[TheMadScientist]

No I don't think it's the same for the 8 and 9 result pages, but to me the 4 result stub seems to indicate the data for the 1st 4 results may be stored in a different place / way, and since I've noticed it and been watching there seems to be less movement in those first 4 results when compared to the rest of the results for a single search phrase.

[piatkow]

Has anybody got SERP of only 4 or 5 entries? And I do not mean that the rest is videos/images, etc. What I get is search results page with only 4 or 5 results, taking only half of the screen. Paginating to page 2 then shows 10 results, clicking back on page 1 then reverts back to 10 results on the first page.

I have seen a few of those in the past but not for quite a few years.

[Hoople]

With all that Google has added to the serps over the years I think they should increase the default search results to 15 or even 20.

This would put those serps displaced onto page 2 of the results back onto page 1 (of the results).

[tedster]

I see very few query terms that don't continue to have ten organic results - the universal results are added in most cases and don't displace the organically ranking sites.