- Supplemental Result
Supplemental Result is a URL residing in
Google 's supplemental index, a secondary database containing pages of less importance, as measured primarily by Google'sPageRank algorithm.The importance of a page is measured by the number and quality of links pointing at it. [ [http://www.google.com/technology/ Google Technology] ] The degree to which Google trusts a site's inbound links also influences the importance of a page. If Google detects paid links, for example, it will devalue the links or nullify them completely so that PageRank will not pass to the target page. [ [http://radar.oreilly.com/2005/08/search-engine-spam.html Search Engine Spam?] Matt Cutts: those links ... have not been trusted in terms of linkage for months and months.]
A supplemental page will still rank in search results, but only if there are not enough pages in the main index that are returned within the search.
Google used to place a "Supplemental Result" label at the bottom of a search result to indicate that it is in the supplemental index; however in July 2007 they discontinued this practice and it is no longer possible to tell whether a result is in the supplemental index or the main one. [http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=73028] [http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2007/07/supplemental-goes-mainstream.html] .
Causes of Supplemental Results
Duplicate Content
Some people believe that the supplemental index is Google’s way of filtering out duplicate content. [ [http://www.webmasterworld.com/google/3200804.htm How to Fix Supplemental due to Duplicate Content] ] TITLE elements, META descriptions tags, and navigational text that are similar or identical can lead to duplicate or near-duplicate content. [ [http://googlewebmastercentral.blogspot.com/2006/12/deftly-dealing-with-duplicate-content.html Deftly Dealing with Duplicate Content] Adam Lasnik explains how to tackle duplicate content issues.]
Low PageRank
However, duplicate content is a side effect of supplemental results, not the cause. Instead, low PageRank is the primary cause of supplemental results. [ [http://www.vanessafoxnude.com/2007/06/06/buffy-in-duplicate/ Buffy in Duplicate] Ex-Googler Vanessa Fox on why duplicate content is not the cause of supplemental results.] Links to multiple versions of the same page dilutes PageRank across multiple URLs, thus increasing their chance of not reaching a minimum PageRank threshold. If a page's PageRank is too low, Google will drop it from its main index. That page will appear in search results as a supplemental result.
Lack of Trust
Manipulative linking practices can also lower PageRank flow into a domain, thus creating more supplemental pages. [ [http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/indexing-timeline/ Indexing Timeline] Matt Cutts, a Googler, explains how manipulative links can create supplemental results.] Manipulative links include excessive reciprocal linking, link injections, and paid links. [ [http://www.forbes.com/home/technology/2007/04/29/sanar-google-skyfacet-tech-cx_ag_0430googhell.html Condemned To Google Hell] Forbes names a supplemental results victim.] [ [http://www.seroundtable.com/archives/013340.html Being Condemned to Google Hell and Matt's Rebuttal] Matt Cutts names the site owner as the culprit.] Questionable outlinks can also lead to link devaluation. [ [http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/indexing-timeline/ Indexing Timeline] Matt Cutts, a Googler, explains how a real estate site linking out to mortgages sites, credit card sites, and exercise equipment went from 10K pages indexed down to 80 after Big Daddy rollout.]
High Page Count
A large site with a high page count is also generally more vulnerable to the supplemental index than a small site because inbound PageRanks divided among several hundred thousand pages tend to be lower than that divided up among only a few dozen pages. [ [http://www.marketingpilgrim.com/2007/06/smx-video-matt-cutts-explains-how-to-get-out-of-googles-supplemental-index.html SMX Video - Matt Cutts Explains How to Get Out of Google's Supplemental Index] Matt Cutts explains the relationship between PageRank, site size, and supplemental results during a session at Seattle SMX 2007.]
Page Freshness
Page freshness is also a factor. [ [http://www.highrankings.com/advisor/getting-into-google/ Getting into Google] According to Jill Whalen, Dave Crow, Google's director of crawl systems, stated during SEMNE July 2007 that page freshness is a factor in whether or not a page is put into the supplemental index.]
Recommended Solutions to Supplemental Results
The primary cure for supplemental results is more quality backlinks. [ [http://groups.google.com/group/Google_Webmaster_Help-Indexing/browse_thread/thread/4130d7e2a6efc4bf/6e4c733aa7f18098 Skinny on the Supplemental Index] Adam Lasnik, a Googler, explains how to get out of the supplemental index.] Other solutions include internal links restructuring and trust management.
See also
*
Search engine optimization
*Google Notes
References
* [http://appft1.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&u=/netahtml/PTO/search-adv.html&r=1&f=G&l=50&d=PG01&p=1&S1=20060106792&OS=20060106792&RS=20060106792 Multiple index based information retrieval system] Inventor: Anna Patterson
* [http://iblog-youblog.blogspot.com/2007/04/getting-out-of-supplemental-results_05.html Getting out of Supplemental Results"]
* [http://www.google.com/support/webmasters/bin/answer.py?answer=73028 What happened to Google's supplemental results? My pages no longer show this label. "] on Google's help centre for webmasters.
* [http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/google-hell/ Google Hell?] fromMatt Cutts blog.
* [http://www.avangate.com/articles/supplemental-results-100.htm Supplemental Results? Still a problem?]
* [http://www.ksl-consulting.co.uk/google_supplemental_result.html Exploring Supplemental Indexing and website trust]
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