Google announced last night, as I covered in detail at Search Engine Land, that they released another update earlier this week that finished rolling out yesterday. This update restricts how many times a search results listing can show in the Google search results for most queries.
In short - Google said for most queries, they will begin only showing up to two listings per domain in the top search results. This does not meant Google will only show two listings from that domain for all search results pages but rather for queries they think is makes sense to show more diversity from different domains for a query. Branded queries may show more than two, and you get the point.
Google Site Diversity in Search
Here is where Google said they have launched this update:
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
Two Results Max For Most Queries
Google said they generally won't show more than two results from the same domain in the top Google search results. Google may still show more than two results if they determine a searcher would benefit from it and it is relevant for the query.
This site diversity change means that you usually won't see more than two listings from the same site in our top results. However, 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 SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 6, 2019
Subdomains & Root Domains Are The Same
For the most part, Google will treat subdomains as part of the main root domain. So blog.domain.com would count towards domain.com being listed in the top search results. Of course, there are examples when Google won't consider them to be part of the same domain, like some hosting platforms will use subdomains to host unique sites - and Google will consider those separate.
Site diversity will generally treat subdomains as part of a root domain. IE: listings from subdomains and the root domain will all be considered from the same single site. However, subdomains are treated as separate sites for diversity purposes when deemed relevant to do so….
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 6, 2019
In some cases, we may decide to treat the subdomains as their own sites, if it seems really relevant to. And none of this involves ranking. We don't mix the domains together or anything. It's just about the roll-up when we decide for display.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 7, 2019
Yes.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 7, 2019
Different From June 2019 Core Update
Google said this is different and unrelated to the June 2019 core update that launched on June 3rd and was big for some sites.
Finally, the site diversity launch is separate from the June 2019 Core Update that began this week. These are two different, unconnected releases.
— Google SearchLiaison (@searchliaison) June 6, 2019
Diversity Update Started On June 4th Also
Danny Sullivan said this update started rolling out two days ago and finished yesterday, so technically it overlapped with the June 2019 core update rollout. We don't know if the June core update is done rolling out but the diversity update is and of course, this can be confusing for SEOs to properly track.
It started a little bit about two days ago but went fully live today. Personally, I wouldn't think of it like an update, however. It's not really about ranking. Things that ranked highly before still should. We just don't show as many other pages.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Specifically, Danny said it was at 10% of the search results on June 4th and on June 6th it was at 100%:
Barry, I saw you write this as June 3. I meant two days ago including the current day. IE: it began June 4. And it was around 10% from that point until shortly (hour or so) before I tweeted. That's when it jumped to 100%
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 7, 2019
He thinks this shouldn't confuse SEOs:
We launch things almost every day. Sometimes several in a single day. This is far enough out from the core update release that any stat changes can probably be distinguished.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
No, it potentially affects traffic. If you had four different pages all doing the right things in terms of content and quality to reach the top page, then your ranking efforts are on the right track. And this doesn't mean they aren't as good. It just means we won't show as many.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Only Impacts Core Web Results
So this only impacts the ten blue listings, the core web results. It does not stop you from showing more than twice because of featured snippets, local listings, images, and other search features according to Danny Sullivan:
It's about the main listings, not various other displays on the search results.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Yes. This is only about the main web search listings. It not including things like featured snippets, map listings, etc.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Domain Based, Not Content Based
This is strictly related to domains and doesn't look to see if the content is the same across different domain names. This is not a duplicate content thing...
As said in the tweets, it's focused around domains.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
It Is Not Perfect
Google said this is not perfect and Google will make updates to it over time:
It's not going to be perfect. As with any of our releases, we'll keep working to improve it. You might also try it the way someone in Tustin would do it -- "nail salons" or "nail salons near me" or "nail salons tustin." If you're in Tustin, you know you're in CA :)
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Oh, and I see one of the screenshots has some of those examples! But as said, things hopefully have improved for a variety of searches, and we'll keep looking to improve.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 6, 2019
Those are completely different domains. Same company; different geo domains. But it's a good point. I'll pass this feedback on. We expect to keep improving on the change.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 7, 2019
We'll be looking to improve. I'll pass this on.
— Danny Sullivan (@dannysullivan) June 7, 2019
Google Has Done This Before
Google has updated their domain diversity filters or weights many many times before. We covered it before but Google has done this update countless times - most of the time not telling us.
Sarcasm
And Gary Illyes weighs in:
More diversity in the search results (10 blue). Unrelated to core algo update.
— Gary "鯨理" Illyes (@methode) June 6, 2019
If you lost traffic because of this, please tweet @JohnMu . If you gained traffic, feel very free to tweet at me. kthxbai https://t.co/18UbKinM3w
So there you have it - that is everything we know about this specific update - which you do or don't have to call an "update" if you don't want it. Call it a "change" or "feature" or whatever you want.
Forum discussion at Twitter.
