Treating Google Indented Results – What You Should Know

We pay close attention to Google search results page (SERP) and how it is being changed because that directly affects our website performance, traffic and click-through. I have already had a look at how Google search result listing was evolving. Today we’ll look at another essential phenomenon in Google SERPs: clustered results (used to be referred to as “host crowding“).

What are “Clustered” Google Search Results?

Or, in other words, why are some results get clustered?

If one domain gets two pages ranked in top 10 results, Google would unite those two listing in the “clustered” one.

According to Google:

Indented results

When Google finds multiple results from the same website, the most relevant result is listed first, with other relevant pages from that site indented below it. If we find more than two results from the same site, the remaining results can be accessed by clicking the More results from link.

Obviously, indented results are usually given for long-tail, less competitive search terms.

Clustered (or indented) listings have been around for ages. They have been changed slightly several times:

• For branded search results indented listings were substituted with “stacked” domains (where many pages from the same domain are returned without any clustering);
• Forums got multiple “mini”-indented results for multiple related threads;
• Google experimented with multiple indented results for the same domain.

Note: I usually don’t recommend trying to “force” an intended result for your own domain because promoting two pages from your domain for one key term may result in triggering duplicate content filter. The best intended result is the one that comes naturally. But if you have a page ranked in top five for some search term and another page ranked within 11-20 range, you have a good chance.

Is there a Way to “Uncluster” Those Results?

“Unclustering” those results can discover some highly important opportunities for you:

• How easy it would be for you to push your competitor down;
• How easy it would be for you to get higher.

To learn the real position of the indented result, take advantage of &num=1 Google search URL parameter: it forces Google to display one result per page and thus puts the indented listing at it actual spot. The great example of this tip in action is this thread:

I’ve been #3 and #4 for my favorite keyword for a long time, while another site has been #1 and #2 for as long as I can remember. In unclustered results, I’m #2 and #5 while he’s *1 and *3. These unclustered ranks show that I’m fairly close to getting the #1 spot (I wouldn’t be close if he had both *1 and *2).

Let’s exercise.

Taking the example in the very first screenshot, we see the first listing from the cluster on page 1 (obviously):

While the second indented result comes only on page 8 (which means it is fairly easy to push it down!):

This means that our initial screenshot should actually look like this:

Is there a Tool for That?

Not exactly a tool but a very handy way to speed up the process. This browser bookmarklet (courtesy of Squarefree) will add &num=1 to any Google string once you click it:

num=1

(Just drag it to your browser bookmarks toolbar).

The bookmarklet is compatible with FireFox, Internet Explorer and Google Chrome.

For more useful SEO content, tips and inspiration, join us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter!