Type any keyword into Google, and chances are the top search results will return links to several pages from the same website. Google is now taking steps to change that—and promising that search results will be more diverse.
Users should no longer “see more than two listings from the same site in our top results,” Google said on Thursday. The tweak is being called a “site diversity change,” and is billed as an opportunity for people to see more sources at the top of a routine Google search.
Multiple search results from the same website can create confusion for users, since it’s often hard to distinguish which page is the best one to address the original query. It can be particularly unhelpful when an entire domain dominates the first page of search results.
With the new tweak, Google is giving other sources a chance to rise near the top, and get the attention of search users. It’s also an opportunity for people to better evaluate the information they’re receiving if they search a controversial topic.
Have you ever done a search and gotten many listings all from the same site in the top results? We've heard your feedback about this and wanting more variety. A new change now launching in Google Search is designed to provide more site diversity in our results….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 6, 2019
However, there will be exceptions for sites that have strong expertise on a particular topic.
“We may still show more than two in cases where our systems determine it’s especially relevant to do so for a particular search,” Google says.
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