Why is Google Doing This?

by 30 replies
34
Have you noticed that google is displaying the same website domain, like, 20 times for an organic search result? I have a few sites of my own this is happening for (no steps taken by me to make this happen) but others that I would think it would happen for it's not. More importantly, if you're trying to break into a niche with enough so-called "quality content" to burst a horse, you still won't get anywhere on organic search if there's a competitor that owns those first 20 or so spots.

What I can't figure is why google is showing this many links for a single site. It doesn't improve the quality of google's search results. And, certainly doesn't give searchers higher quality options to review.

So, what's their reasoning do you think? And, is there anything we warriors can do about it?
#search engine optimization #google
  • I would think it's a temporary glitch. Like you said, it's not improving the search results. I've only ever see 2-3 similar site listings before. Odd you found one with so many.

    Or they are doing something blackhat that won't last.
    • [1] reply
    • It may be a temporary glitch I believe. G will put it down.
  • I didn't notice this. 2 listings, yes. 3 - at times. 20+ - unbelievable, unless you are practically the only domain working on the niche and have 20+ pages (and even then I don't know whether they will just show the top few or actually show 20).

    Can you give some examples? It does not need to be your niche - as long as it is some niche it will make the situation visible. As of now, I haven't seen any and unless I am an exception I doubt whether most Warriors would have seen such corner cases either.
  • Even I have noticed similar stuff recently. But often it does turn out for the better because the results are more relevant, not always though.
    • [1] reply
    • Very true, for many of my clients keywords when I was running search campaigns , multiple links form the same domain were showing up.

      I believe, I have seen this for the past 3 months or so, but I have seen 3-5 links from same domain but not more than that.

      Regards,
      Swrajit
  • Google sucks, There are 100000 gazillion ways to get traffic to your site that do not rely on google. I flipped the birdie to google years ago.

    To me GOOGLE is the dirty old man in the corner rubbing his nipples. NO THANKS SIR! LOL
  • Examples, sure, here's one. Search google for "miami marriage counselor". I counted 17 listings for a website called theravive, then the usual 7 local search google maps results, then 2 results for psychology today listings (ironically the biggest and what should be the most recognized legacy system out there) and then after that, 16 straight listings for a website called goodtherapy. Only after that do you start seeing individual search results. If you ARE a marriage counselor looking to get any traction on google, there's only ONE way to get on google organic search in the top 20...and that's to buy membership to these directories.

    No matter how "quality content" (what google say they are looking for) an individual marriage counselor in miami (or any other city in country) adds to the web, they're never going to get traction in organic search.
    • [2] replies
    • I only see one listing for the theravive site.
      • [1] reply
    • Banned

      Your getting personalized SERPs, use Chrome .

      There's multiple forum threads & folks are simply getting , this nothing new, Google has been doing this for years.

      I did the "miami marriage counselor" search without quotes, all 10 results on the first SERP page are unique domains.
      • [ 1 ] Thanks
      • [1] reply
  • The big question is who knows why Google does a lot of the things they do?
  • It's not a 'glitch'. Google just doesn't think other sites are better, so they show the same one over and over. I see lots of search terms with the 2nd page dominated by all Youtube vids as well. This happened after the Penguin update.
  • I've seen this happen before. Then i would go to yahoo or bing, enter the same search there, and got normal results. Then i would go back to google, and would get normal results from the same search term i used there.
    • [1] reply
    • Mabe its because Google has the personalized SERP where the results will vary depending on your location and user.
  • I AM SHOCKED!!!!!!!!!!!!

    I don't know what happens to my fellow warriors, since they didn't bother to check the search term "Quality Content" once which returns multiple links of a single website.

    I think while participating in forums we should be responsible enough before to make comment on any topic.

    I repeat the term "Quality Content" doesn't show repeated links of a single website in Google search result.

    I think you have made a mistake somewhere.

    And in my entire career I haven't seen any such thing you have mentioned over here.

    I want everyone who have commented over here should at least check the truth prior to write something.
    • [1] reply
    • I have seen this happening regularly. A short while ago I typed into Google "how to replace a watch movement" without quotes and the same website was occupying the top 16 positions. I repeated the search using Private Browsing after reading the threads on this post and the website that had the top 16 positions before was number one but that was it. The rest of the first couple of pages of results were occupied by different sites, as you would normally expect.

      As I have been researching a number of different topics relating to watches and watch repairing it seems to be fairly obvious that Google had tailored the results according to previous recent searches.

      The search was a waste of time in this instance as I was looking for specific information and out of the 16 results from the same site only one of the pages was relevant. The other pages were related to the general subject of watch repairing but had nothing to do with the search I was making. Another case, as far as I'm concerned, of Google trying to second guess what you want and failing miserably.
  • yes I am seeing the same issue, I believe it is a Google glitch and hope they address it
  • I happened to come across same thing. I mostly search for local classifieds to put my ads on, and all I get is, same site name repeated at least 20 times or more. And it is not temporary glitch, it has been going on for more than 3 months, and is really frustrating!
    • [1] reply
    • I just could not agree with you. Though I have seen this problem today while searching a scam review but today was the day when I have noticed this problem. As a IM warrior, I use google more than anything in internet. I think, it is happening for some search terms where no valuable results are available.
      • [1] reply
  • This is what I have just noticed today while I was searching for a scam review. Google was showing me all the 10 results of the first page from one website. Which seems very odd to me. Do not know how soon google will respond to this problem.
  • I am seeing "miami marriage counselor" without quotes:

    In top 20
    1. tharapists.psychologytoday.com plus once more on page 2
    2. and 9. tharvive and no other times
    I don't see any other site showing more than once.

    I am seeing "miami marriage counselor" with quotes:

    • [1] reply
    • This doesn't appear to be a "glitch" nor does it appear to be because there aren't enough "good quality" results to show. If you look at my post above you will see that what you might consider normal results are shown if you use private browsing. This suggests to me that Google is giving you results based on previous searches that you have done.

      I've also tried typing in the same search term on my computer and then on someone else's computer. My result was the same website in the top 20 positions from the search on my computer and a "normal" result on the other computer, i.e. the website that was in the top 20 was number two and the other positions were taken by different websites.

      What it means for me is that the results are being biased towards my previous searches and I have to scroll down a couple of pages to find another website dealing with the topic I am searching for. This is not helpful. My solution? Forget Google and use Bing or Yahoo.
  • Banned
    [DELETED]
  • https://startpage.com/ is very useful for doing non-biased Google searches.
  • ahhh, thanks Yukon, it's all starting to come together now. And, thanks Peter for the link to the private search tool.
  • Same topic came up on Google products forums and almost everyone is agreeing with this thread OP as well. It just the matter of waiting and hopefully see the change from Google.
Join the discussion

Next Topics on Trending Feed

  • 34

    Why is Google Doing This?

    Have you noticed that google is displaying the same website domain, like, 20 times for an organic search result? I have a few sites of my own this is happening for (no steps taken by me to make this happen) but others that I would think it would happen for it's not. More importantly, if you're trying to break into a niche with enough so-called "quality content" to burst a horse, you still won't get anywhere on organic search if there's a competitor that owns those first 20 or so spots. What I can't figure is why google is showing this many links for a single site. It doesn't improve the quality of google's search results. And, certainly doesn't give searchers higher quality options to review.