Site Diversity System: How Google Prevents Overrepresentation In Search Results

If you are following a digital marketing or SEO professional career, then it is important to know the latest search engine updates introduced by Google and continuously optimize your marketing strategies. For years, the search engine has rolled out various changes that have affected the way SEO is done. One such is the site diversity update which was introduced way back in 2019. 

Before the pre-site diversity era, one of the major problems of Google search was showing too many results originating from the same domain. But things have changed after that. In this article, we’ll be learning more about the Google site diversity update, how it works and above all how this specific update prevents the overrepresentation of search results, let’s get started.

What to know about site diversity?

In early June 2019, a series of tweets was posted by the Google Search Liaison account on X which announced the site diversity update. Before this announcement was made, one of the primary concerns and complaints made by SEO professionals, customers, etc over the years was about displaying the same search results. According to them, more than a certain number of search results from the same domain occupied the top results. 

Source: X

Let’s take an example, you search for “Belkin USB charger buy” on Google. Once you hit enter, the search engine will return two results from belkin.com, and results from other ecommerce channels like Amazon, etc. However, if the whole situation was before the site diversity update, the search results would have been dominated by Amazon or the most dominant player.

With the site diversity update announcement, Google won’t show more than two listings from the same domain when users search for information. This change is a step in the right direction and relief to businesses. It also prevents a particular domain from dominating search results. which is explained later on.

How Google Site Diversity Change Impacts Search

One thing that is certainly for sure is that the Google Site Diversity update has changed the fundamental nature of organic search.  As announced on the Google Search Liasion page, the site diversity update is aimed at not displaying more than two search listings from the same site. Even though the change is welcoming and changes how search engines display webpages in search, there is a catch. 

Google may still show more than two results in certain cases if the systems determine whether they are relevant to the particular search made. Despite that, this update now allows other non-dominant players and businesses now have the chance of being shown in the top results in the SERPs. This results in increased share expansion and a boost in organic traffic.

Despite being introduced over 5 years back, the site diversity algorithm update has levelled the playing field by offering several businesses the chance to grow. Due to this, most niche businesses will experience positive growth from this update in the long run. However, those websites that dominated the search results earlier, will see a negative impact and may lose some traffic.

Google Site Diversity Update: Major Points To Know

Even though this algorithm comes with several long-term changes to search, certain factors have arisen from this change and is important to know them in the first place. Let’s see what they are:

Not Considered An Update

One of the key points mentioned in the announcement was that the site diversity was to be referred to as a change rather than a complete update. This was explicitly mentioned by Danny Sullivan AKA Google Search Liasion account on X as his opinion as it didn’t involve any updates to the ranking algorithm.

Subdomain grouping

Source: X

Another update was related to the seo subdomains as they will be considered a part of the main root domain. The site diversity will consider listings from both the sub-domain and the main domain as a single site. However, there are exceptions such as hosting platforms where Google doesn’t consider subdomains to be part of the main domain.

Not Related To the Google Core Update

Source: X

Google’s June Broad Core update and the site diversity change were launched around the same time frame in June 2019. This has led to most people assuming that both are the same but Google Search Liason has confirmed that they are unrelated. Even though both of these changes affect search results, Google has made it clear that the site diversity change doesn’t qualify as an “update” because it did not include an update to the ranking algorithm.

Site diversity isn’t perfect

Source: X

Even though the Google Site diversity change aims to display only two results from the same domain, that hasn’t been the case. As explained about the catch, there can be more than two results when Google systems determine its relevancy for the search results. The search engine giant has acknowledged that the site diversity change isn’t perfect by all means and strives to improve the technology continuously.

Multiple updates over the years

If you thought that this was the first and one-of-a-kind update made by Google to focus on diversified results, you are wrong. Google has updated the way how domain diversity works several times over the years. Introducing an update in 2010 and subsequent ones in 2012 & 2013, the search engine has come up with various changes that have affected search.

Winding up

As explained earlier, the Google site diversity update is the right step as it eliminates domination and essentially allows various businesses to get featured on the top 10 search results. Despite the imperfections, with time, the update will become better if it focuses on showing quality results instead of quantity. One thing that is certain without doubt is that Google is the primary source of organic traffic, and leads for any business online.

The search engine also introduces various changes and algorithm updates that can affect the way search works. Therefore, it is important to follow these new updates and take advantage of them. So, if you want your business to succeed in the long term, then understanding and monitoring search algorithm changes is crucial. If this is too much for you to handle, then GTECH’s professional search engine optimization services in Dubai will take care of it.