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Google Launches Site Diversity Change to Show More Domains in Search Results

June 17, 2019

Have you ever Googled something, just to find that the majority of the search results are from the same domain? For years, searchers have been complaining that Google shows too many listings from the same domain name in the top spots. Now, Google has answered their cries. The search giant recently announced that it implemented a site diversity change, via the Search Liason Twitter account. This change aims to show more diversity among domain results.

What does that mean for your company? And how will it impact current rankings? Before pressing the panic button, here’s what you need to know about the site diversity change.

Multiple Results From The Same Domain Will Still Show When Relevant.

The site diversity change makes it so searchers (usually) won’t see more than two listings from the same site in the top results. The kicker? Google explains, “We may still show more than two in cases where our systems determine it’s especially relevant to do so in a particular search.”

Even branded searches are not immune to the site diversity change. To quell our curiosity, we searched “Noble Studios” in a Chrome incognito window. The result? Not a single duplicate domain name. Although the company website still holds the top spot, the branded search also showed social media profiles, business listings, and reviews on page one.

Subdomains Are Grouped With The Root Domain.

The site diversity change will lump subdomain listings into a single bucket along with the root domain listings. Just like the previous rule, there’s an exception. In Google’s statement, they noted, “However, subdomains are treated as separate sites for diversity purposes when deemed relevant to do so.”

Follow-up question. What is considered “relevant” to the search? Sadly, a clarification was not officially released. And it is still too early to make a definitive statement as to what will be deemed “relevant” enough to allow duplicate domain listings.

No, The Site Diversity Change is Not Part of the June 2019 Core Update.

Every day, Google releases one or more incremental improvements to search results. But, several times a year, the tech company releases broad changes to the core algorithm. You can check out our post on the impact from the previous 2019 Google Core Algorithm updates to get an idea of what this means.  

One such major update, the June 2019 Core Update, was released on June 3. The same week as the site diversity change. To nip any confusion in the bud, Google explained that “the site diversity launch is separate from the June 2019 Core Update.”

Yes, the Site Diversity Change is Fully Live.

Google’s new site diversity change partially launched on June 4 before fully activating on June 6. It was then announced to the public that same day.  

Keep an eye on Google Analytics and Google Search Console to fully understand how this change will impact your search results moving forward. Or Contact us and let the Noble Studios team help you with your SEO strategy.

For the official update, check out the official Google Search site diversity launch tweet.

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