Google Officially Drops Supplemental Labels

peter_d · 07-31-2007, 09:29 PM

Announced today on Webmaster Central:

http://googlewebmastercentral.blogsp...ainstream.html

Quote:

The distinction between the main and the supplemental index is therefore continuing to narrow. Given all the progress that we've been able to make so far, and thinking ahead to future improvements, we've decided to stop labeling these URLs as "Supplemental Results." Of course, you will continue to benefit from Google's supplemental index being deeper and fresher.

**Cricket** · 07-31-2007, 10:01 PM

Is it just me, or does this sound like they are saying that essentially there will still be supplemental results per se, they just won't call them that anymore?

sniperhiga · 07-31-2007, 10:13 PM

They just not gonna write supplemental result.

Dp you really belive your pages will improve in traffic???

full house · 08-01-2007, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sniperhiga

They just not gonna write supplemental result.

Dp you really belive your pages will improve in traffic???

what supplemental means?

peter_d · 07-31-2007, 10:13 PM

Rather cryptic, eh.

Yes, I think they're saying there will still be different tiers of results.

**Cricket** · 07-31-2007, 10:49 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter_d

Rather cryptic, eh.

Yes, I think they're saying there will still be different tiers of results.

That is exactly how I interpreted the announcement.

mvandemar · 07-31-2007, 11:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cricket

That is exactly how I interpreted the announcement.

The only thing they have done is to remove the ability for us webmasters to see at a glance whether or not a page has enough PageRank to be in the main index. This does nothing whatsoever to improve anything, period. Normal searchers never had a clue what supps were to begin with.

As near as I can tell, this only serves the purpose of lowering the amount of information that Google gives us to work with. Supplementals do not pass PageRank, or pass it in such negligible amounts that it's not worth worrying about. Lack of PageRank is what causes pages to go supp to begin with. By removing the label it prevents webmasters from knowing which pages/sites out there would be more beneficial to focus on getting links from.

Personally I see it as a sign of Google's increasing paranoia about people being able to intentionally rank better, and them again worrying about crap that they really don't need to be worrying about at this point. The real spammers don't give a damn about looking for individual pages to target, they just hit with the shotgun approach.

There are tons of pages of nothing but spam filling the main index right now:

http://www.google.com/search?q=site:...e=off&filter=0

That's one site with over 400,000 pages of nothing but spam. The more pages like this there are, the more honest pages are going to get pushed into the supps. I guess one reason G might be doing this is so that people can no longer easily gauge how bad of a job they are doing.

-Michael

jg_v7n · 08-01-2007, 02:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peter_d

Rather cryptic, eh.

Yes, I think they're saying there will still be different tiers of results.

Thats not really how I see it; "tiers" is a word that you could use to describe PR - PR10 being the top tier and PR1 being the bottom tier (or PR0 if you prefer).

The supplemental index drew a line - an arbitrary line - through the SERPS that effectively said "good content" or "bad content", what really is the point or this additional level of "tiers" unless of course you apply arbitrary rules to make the distinction? "This page is 90% similar to this older page, and therefore mostly redundant - we'll place it in the supplemental index". "Whereas this other page is only 70% similar and therefore it will be in the main index".

From what I understand this is now unnecessary as PR - or more specifically the algorithm as a whole - will deal with the issues that lead to the creation of the supplemental index in the first place.

The supplemental was a "quick fix" for a problem that older algorithms couldn't handle.

Google is now back to a full single index ranked from top to bottom based on quality and relevance alone.

Pages that were in the old supplemental are now "released"; while (initially at least)they remain buried as mostly irrelevant, they are no longer subject to an arbitrary additional classification. Additionally they are now able to freely move up the SERPS if and when the content is improved.

I think it was bound to happen. Excellent move if you ask me.

mvandemar · 08-01-2007, 08:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg_v7n

Thats not really how I see it; "tiers" is a word that you could use to describe PR - PR10 being the top tier and PR1 being the bottom tier (or PR0 if you prefer).

2 tiered is still tiered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg_v7n

Pages that were in the old supplemental are now "released"; while (initially at least)they remain buried as mostly irrelevant, they are no longer subject to an arbitrary additional classification. Additionally they are now able to freely move up the SERPS if and when the content is improved.

I think it was bound to happen. Excellent move if you ask me.

No, you don't actually understand what they did. The only thing they did was to hide the tag when you search. There are still 2 indexes. Page are still supplemental, you just cannot tell what they are at a glance anymore.

-Michael

jg_v7n · 08-01-2007, 08:37 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mvandemar

No, you don't actually understand what they did. The only thing they did was to hide the tag when you search. There are still 2 indexes. Page are still supplemental, you just cannot tell what they are at a glance anymore.

-Michael

Well, yes and no, there are still two indexes however as stated: "The distinction between the main and the supplemental index is therefore continuing to narrow.", and with the removal of the Supplemental tag. What really is the difference? Soon enough the "distinction" will narrow to nothing, I think that the removal of the tags signifies that this is a "milestone" in that narrowing. Afterall the indexes are so close now that there is no need to label them...

mvandemar · 08-01-2007, 08:45 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jg_v7n

"The distinction between the main and the supplemental index is therefore continuing to narrow.", and with the removal of the Supplemental tag. What really is the difference?

That's just typical Google Doublespeak though. They're acting as if how often the supplemental index is re-indexed is some sort of indicator of "distinction" between the two, since many webmasters who didn't understand what the supps were often talked about it. Therefore, uping the re-indexing frequency narrows the distinction.

This is utter bs. The distinction between the two is that pages in the one index pass on PageRank, and the others do not. One type of page does you almost nothing, the other is desirable. This has not changed, just now we can't see which is which.

-Michael

mauiman · 07-31-2007, 11:29 PM

I wonder how many calls and emails they received on a regular basis from Webmasters trying to get their sites out of supplemental hell? Is it possible that's part of the reason?

BingoBalls · 08-01-2007, 09:14 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mauiman

I wonder how many calls and emails they received on a regular basis from Webmasters trying to get their sites out of supplemental hell? Is it possible that's part of the reason?

I would probably bet it is. Look at the amount of activity on forums with people going crazy over those results.

At least we can now move onto something else to get frustrated over.

temyong · 08-01-2007, 11:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BingoBalls

I would probably bet it is. Look at the amount of activity on forums with people going crazy over those results.

At least we can now move onto something else to get frustrated over.

Its more frustrating today because we cannot see the supplemental labels.

simeonquarrie · 08-01-2007, 01:50 AM

Though seeing results in the SERPs as supplementary is depressing. It's better to know. Though we should be grateful that we saw a glimpse of how Google works behind the scenes.

coolguy27 · 08-01-2007, 08:47 AM

I think even the Supplemental Labels are gone.. Still the pages are in supplemental index... Can the removal of supplemental labels help?

How can we know if the page is in supplemental result or the main result? If the label is not shown...

joanne-r · 08-01-2007, 01:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolguy27

I think even the Supplemental Labels are gone.. Still the pages are in supplemental index... Can the removal of supplemental labels help?

How can we know if the page is in supplemental result or the main result? If the label is not shown...

To find out which pages are not in the supps type allinurl:www.domain site:www.domain.com

coolguy27 · 08-01-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by joanne-r

To find out which pages are not in the supps type allinurl:www.domain site:www.domain.com

I've using that command ever since ... if you want to see your supplementals

use this site:mydomain.com/& but as google drops the label you will still see the supplemental pages results but without the supplemental labels...

joanne-r · 08-01-2007, 01:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by coolguy27

I've using that command ever since ... if you want to see your supplementals

use this site:mydomain.com/& but as google drops the label you will still see the supplemental pages results but without the supplemental labels...

I thought the command site:www.mydomain.com/& showed supplemental pages and site:www.mydomain.com/" showed the serps pages. Some of my pages show up in both.

mabel01 · 08-04-2007, 01:42 AM

Quote:

How can we know if the page is in supplemental result or the main result? If the label is not shown...

now that's the point.. we won't be able to know. but that doesn’t mean our web pages are no longer in the Supplemental Index. It just means Google won’t tell us whether they are or not.