Odd site operator behavior when looking up images?

[Sgt_Kickaxe]

site:example.com = 5000 image results.
site:example.com/widgets = 25000 results ?

I'm seeing more results when looking at a directory than I do when looking at the entire site, why?

[tedster]

Results like this used to be common in regular web search - so now Image Search has imported the same technology?

I never really got the "why" of it, except to acknowledge that accuracy of the site: operator is not a big priority at Google. When I can, I lean on a total directory-by-directory. But I also acknowledge that these site: numbers are not a very actionable stat, so I tend not to focus on them.