I just ran a search in Google...
get more than 10 results from a google search
or something like that...
Now it's been awhile since I've been into the search settings on Google and wanted to talk about how to get there and what some of the options could do for us as webmasters.
Nothing on the first page of results was even close to answering my question.
Then ran the same search in Bing. Voila, the first result answered my question.
Went back and ran the same query in Google again, just to make sure I wasn't crazy and, lo-and-behold, there was the same number 1 result i just got from Bing, now firmly anchored in the first position.
This had the impact of adding mystery to what was really intended to be a simple post about what we as webmasters might want to start focusing on (if we're not already doing it) to help ourselves survive what is going on in the SERPS. This started out as a post about educating our audience and now I'm fixated on how Google just responded to the prospect of losing me by actually giving me what I wanted in the first place. Did I just see that algorithm react to the prospect of me leaving by rewarding me for coming back?
Anyway, I'll let that questions percolate so I can get back to my initial thought. I'm sure many webmasters here use a larger page size than 10 when searching with Google. Or maybe like me, they've kept it at 10 so they can see what a majority of the world see's when it's searching Google. Of course, Google's results are nothing like what you see when you search with DuckDuckGo. DDG's results page just goes on and on like a twitter feed (loading new results as you scroll). What a difference. Where is the bottom ad going to be if there's no bottom to be found? Hmmmmm.
Point here is that most people I know use the 10 result format and aren't even aware they can change it (yup, even though they have Gmail accounts and are virtually always logged into Google). So, they plod their way through the knowledge graphs and ads and, more often than not, wind up picking something from just those first 10 results (if it's even 10 these days). The consequences of being on page two in this game are significant (some would say devastating). I think we all know the drill.
Guess what? I'm on page one in DuckDuckGo! And I could be on page one in Google if people would simply enlarge the page size of their search results. And guess what? That wouldn't just be good for me, it would be good for the searcher!
I've long since abandoned complaining about Google's practices and I'm not here to complain now. I do notice things and react on occasion though. I noticed my organic traffic going away and have worked hard at building up alternative streams of traffic...blah, blah, blah.
Today, I'm suggesting that webmasters should stop pining over their traffic numbers for five minutes once and awhile and use that time to teach a friend or a college how to get a larger set of results if they really insist on using Google as their primary search. If you don't know how to change the page size, I suggest looking it up in Bing.
The way to combat the shrinking percentage of a results page that is actually dedicated to results is to increase the number of results shown on the page. Google won't do it for you but you can encourage others to improve the quality of their searches by asking for more results. Who knows? If Google see's more and more people asking for larger result sets, they may even see that as a negative reaction to what they're doing above the fold (and below it) these days.
Monday morning musings complete. Have a great week all.
