Eight pages from the same domain in one SERP

[neildt]

More and more Google's SERPs are getting worst by the day.

Today I did a random search for hotel name city and on page 3 (.co.uk) there were 8 pages of the same domain name but with different pages.

Now the website in question hasn't used any spamming techniques, but it is how the SERPs are being listed.

Surely Google can see the problems of these pages?

[tedster]

At least this "host crowding" example began on page 3. Sometimes recently it began on page 1 or 2.

I agree, Google must know this is bizarre. I can only guess that it's some kind of statistical sampling and will not stay this way indefinitely.

[neildt]

Adding to this on the 4th page their were an additional 4 pages from the same domain. It is very odd and not good for the user experience.

Hopefully Google will fix this ASAP

[tigger]

it does seem to be getting worse - I first noticed it a few months ago then it was just showing 3 pages from the same site - now its up to 6 pages, least thats the worst case I've seen

Whilst I can understand some benefit to a couple of pages but 6 is a joke. I can't see why G would think this is a positive move

[MustardDan]

I work with a few sites and have found this to be the case on a vast majority of search queries, one site having multiple results on one page of the SERPs. On our lower ranked terms, it is pushing them off the chart.

Google surely must be aware of this and has to sort it. As it stands, its definately not a level playing field

[Rockzer]

Even we have noticed the same thing in google india, IF we are searching for some term, mostly first 8 pages of that particular website is coming in top, google tried to remove spam, but the removed the brands, and bringing spam website on the top.

[louieramos]

I have noticed this too on a product keyword on a networking niche, but I have also noticed that there is fluctuation in the rankings and changing about 4 times in an hour. Perhaps Google is rolling out an update that is why we are seeing these kinds of search result.

[harrybrown]

I have seen 15 pages in the top 30 of the same site for a holiday resort key word its maddness

[netmeg]

Someone once told me I had the first 11 results for a query, but I never saw it myself.

[traffik daddy]

Wow, I am seeing the most bizarre rankings in Google UK for a major, major keyword. Not once, but twice, on the first page, the content for both sites are completely unrelated to the keyword (checked on my VPS too and the same results).

On top of this I am seeing the same as everyone for other keywords, multiple listings dominating some pages from the same domain. This surely has to be for testing purposes?

[edit]Page two has two other unrelated sites. Strange indeed.

[shamza]

i have notice the same thing in Google israel from jun 4.
i saw 3 pages in the SERP of the same domain and more.

[spreporter]

"I have seen 15 pages in the top 30 of the same site for a holiday resort key word"
same thing noticed here too.

[atlrus]

Sounds like a bug with the Sitelinks

[spreporter]

the same website for another resort (one keyword) ranks as follows
1 page 4 results
2 page 4 results
3 page 7 results!

[atlrus]

Wow, now that I actually took a look - it's insane!

I did a search and the same website is returned at least twice on every page! How buggy is that?

[sherrillh]

This seems really strange, when you get to page 3 I see a site completely dominating with all 10 results.

[matrix_jan]

In one of the monthly updates(I think it was April) G supposedly limited multiple same domain results. That was a total BS. My website fills the first 4 pages for a three word keyphrase (think blue widget picture). It's just that those widgets come blue but no one posts a picture of them somehow. But 4 pages? Anyway I see almost no traffic from that keyphrase, so I guess that's why G doesn't pay attention to that particular search.

[aristotle]

Google used to have a strict rule that no domain could appear more than twice on the first page of the SERPs. I don't remember exactly when this rule was discarded, but think it was about three years ago. I remember thinking at the time, what the heck are they doing, to get rid of such a good rule.

[Planet13]

Saw the first 4 results from about.com when I did a search for how to do basic formulas in a popular spreadsheet program that starts with an e and is made by MS.

Looked at all four of those pages and NONE of them had anything usable for me. they were useless.

The fifth result was useless, too, but at least it was from a different domain!

[matrix_jan]

By 4 pages I meant 4 search result pages, not 4 my pages... so 40 of my pages on top.... but who cares...

[atlrus]

Well, it's spreading like a virus.

All my websites now show more than 2 pages in the search results. As long as one of the keywords of the search string is mentioned anywhere on the page - it's showing in the top 1000.

[menntarra 34]

I checked and in my niche the same thing happening: on very competitive keywords i found several domains with 2-3 pages on the first or second pages of google.

[neildt]

Google webmaster videos just posted a video by Matt Cutts strangely enough

[brinked]

I really hope this stays. Finally my one site is getting the recognition it deserves. What a wonderful slap in the face to my competitor who is now ranking #8 while my faq page ranks #7, homepage ranks #6 and the actual product page ranks #5.

In all fairness, these pages do offer useful and rich content where as my competitors mostly have dull looking listing pages with no substance.

From a search stand point it is really redundant and not to mention annoying. I really do hope they resolve this issue soon, despite the fact I will lose some dominance for my one eCommerce site.

[outland88]

I can't see why G would think this is a positive move

For the first time I would say Google is driving many sites into Adwords after April and May. Five competitors overnight surfaced in Adwords who have never advertised before because of top rankings and long tails that went untouched for years. It simply reaches the point with all the Google disruptions you do or go under. I did a keyword search last night on five keyword phrases that were always “buy” areas and all the top 10 results were info. Anything which led to an order form was gone. It’s a monopoly and they’re finally beginning to squeeze hard.

The multiple pages from a domain gets worse as you dig deeper. Plus many of the longtail search results now mimic the highly trafficked results. Reminds me of what they started in Adwords three years ago.

[Spiekerooger]

brinked, it's fine if you really have the most useful information/products for the searching customer.

But unfortunately, in most cases you'll even have autogenerated pages as results with no useful content whatsoever blocking 8 or more places in a row in the serps.

In terms of user experience this hc1 update in may is googles worst update ever.

[Andem]

This is horrible. I've noticed something was up over the past 48 hours especially.

Just now, I did a random search and found:

One site had 8 results on the first page (7/8 were internal search result pages). On page 2, they had 4 more positions and 2 other sites virtually dominated the rest of pages 3 and 4.

Another example:

A search for a Microsoft product returns (rightfully) 3 results from Microsoft.com. Again, apart from one YouTube video, the rest of page 1, 2, 3 and 4 are all duplicates of sites which rank for the internal tag and search results pages. Odd, Wikipedia in this instance is all the way on page 5!

I guess that even though I think Wikipedia is pretty rubbish, I would have preferred links to wiki than to tag and search results pages.

This is reminding me a little too much of Alta Vista shortly before their demise.

Addendum: I checked the same search terms from above in different browsers from a few different countries* via VPN on Google.com in English and the problem exists from each country but the site dominating the first 4 pages varies based on country.

* United States, Germany, UK and Canada

[edited by: Andem at 10:14 pm (utc) on Jun 11, 2012]

[DigiSEO]

For one of my main terms my competitor has 3 results on page 1, 4 results on page 2 and 9 on page 3. Talk about crowding everyone else out.

[tedster]

We've got a second thread on this topic, and it has a broader context. Let's take the rest of this discussion over there:

Host Crowding vs Brand Authority [webmasterworld.com]