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Welcome to the ineedhits Search Engine Marketing blog, where we share the latest search engine and online marketing news, releases, industry trends and great DIY tips and advice.

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Tuesday, October 31

Google's New Custom Search

If you are looking for a search engine tailored perfectly to suit your needs, this could be it. Google have just released their latest creation, a Custom Search Engine allowing users everywhere to create their own search tool, specifically related to certain topics or communities.

The search can be customized easily by choosing keywords and selecting which sites are included in the search index. Users can search through specific sites exclusively or choose to only give them high priority.

To give you an example, here is an ineedhits search engine I created while writing this article. The search engine only searches the ineedhits website based on our major keywords and took me less then 5 minutes to set up. You can even customize link colors, add logos and much more.

The company expects the move to increase overall advertising sales, but noted the search also gives non-profit organizations, universities and government agencies the ability to create a simple search with the benefit of having no ads. In an article from informationweek.com Stephen Arnold suggests, "Every government agency can now put up a Google box at no cost," and "Applications will come out of the woodwork for this function."

My only concern is how will Google stop abuse of the no ads feature? The check box is simple enough for anyone to tick, giving them their own, add free, in house search. I guess time will tell.

With the power of this search, its no wonder people are getting excited. Some of the more interesting developments are reported on the Matt Cutts blog, where he talks about the combination of the Google AJAX API and custom search. A useful example includes four custom searches on one page (reviews, price comparisons, forums and shopping) with AJAX adding a blog, web and news search. You can check out this combination here and why not check out some of the other AJAX API samples.

As you may have guessed, Yahoo! have their own version of custom search called Yahoo! Search Builder. Why not check them both out and let us know which one you like better!

Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 2:38 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Conversion Secrets of Landing Pages

Landing pages are a red hot topic at the moment - Google has just launched a tool to optimize landing page conversion, and a whole range of companies are offering services focused on creating highly converting landing pages. So why exactly is everyone getting so excited about landing pages?

What Are Landing Pages?
A landing page is a page that visitors arrive on after clicking on an online ad, a search result, a link in an email or any other form of online advertising. Theoretically, any page of your site is or can be a landing page, but most often landing pages refer to pages specifically created to promote a single offer. Landing pages are not fully integrated into the navigation structure of a website and can also exist as stand-alone pages, even if a company doesn't have a fully fledged website at all.

Best Practice Design Tips for High Landing Page Conversion

Use a Single Call to Action
Landing pages are all about focusing your visitors' behavior on one single action you'd like them to take, which could be buying a product or registering for an event. That's all you want people to do on a landing page, so the "Buy Now" or "Sign Up Now" button is the only place you want a landing page visitor to click. This means that you should make sure that the "Buy Now" button is prominent and visible above the fold; people shouldn't have to scroll down to see it. All your copy and images on the page should also be designed to support that single action, so be disciplined when you compile the content of the page and don't include interesting but non-essential information.

Create a Consistent User Experience
Landing pages are created for highly targeted traffic, say for an ad on a specific keyword or a specific offer you promote in your email marketing. It's therefore very important that the landing page takes into account where its users have come from and what they expect to see after they clicked on the ad. For example, if you are promoting a 10 inch garden gnome in you keyword ad, all your landing page should contain is selling points on and a "add to cart" button for your 10 inch garden gnome. The landing page should not contain any information on garden furniture, bird baths or garden sculptures! If you used graphic ads like banners, the creative you used on the banners should also be reflected on the landing page for a consistent look and feel.

Sophisticated marketers with the ability to easily create numerous landing pages even go so far as to create landing pages for more or less every keyword that is included in their pay-per-click campaigns in order to optimize the needs-based landing page message depending on the search term the visitors are using.

Keep It Short and Simple
Remember that you don't have a lot of time to capture your visitors' attention - your web page needs to make an impression instantly. People will scan your page and maybe only register a few snippets of the information contained on it. Address your visitors needs with compelling facts and selling points, but don't try to include too much information on the landing page. Ideally, a visitor should be able to see all (or at least most) information on the landing page without having to scroll down the page. Also make sure you use sub-headlines, bold text and other forms of highlights to capture the attention of readers who are only scanning your page.

Focus on Your Headline
Studies have shown that the top left hand corner of a page and the page header area right below receive the most attention from visitors. Make sure you capture this attention by placing your company logo and a tag line in the top left corner (as most websites do) and by crafting a page header that grabs people's attention and appeals to their need for the product or service you are offering on the landing page.

Add Graphics
People's eyes tend to be drawn to images, and pictures of a person seem to be particularly effective in drawing people's attention to the area of the page where the image is located. To ensure you don't interrupt the normal flow of reading, which tends to be from top to bottom and left to right of a page in English speaking countries, try to place your images towards the left hand side of the page.

Avoid Distraction
Landing pages are created for a single purpose - to convince the visitors to take the desired action, for example purchasing a product, registering for an event, downloading a whitepaper or requesting information. You should avoid including anything on your landing page that distracts from this purpose. Distractions include navigation links to other parts of your website, more than one product offer, or links to other information.

How Can You Use Landing Page Principles on Your Site?

As mentioned above, any pages of a website can be thought of as landing pages, so review your site and see whether your current web pages comply with landing page rules. Of course, many pages of your site will be designed to encourage browsing and visiting other pages within your site, so navigation will remain an essential element of most pages. However, the other principles I mentioned above apply to all types of pages:

  • Review your page headline for strong, captivating copy
  • Make sure your "Add to cart" or "Sign up now" buttons are above the fold
  • Use one or a few images strategically
  • Focus on the main benefit messages and convey them prominently.

Above all, always remember that testing is at the core of everything you do. You'll never get the optimal conversion result in your first attempt at landing pages, so make sure you schedule in plenty of time to test, test, test!


Posted by Nancy Hackett at 1:53 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Friday, October 27

AOL Search Goes "FullView"


AOL has just released an enhancement to their search offering aimed at giving users easier access to their other search services. Labeled "FullView", users will now be presented with audio, video, news, local content and images related to their search query in the results page.

While AOL continues to use Google as its source of organic search listings, the FullView results are sourced from their own resources and other partners. There is talk of a new API that will allow anyone to submit content to be included in the FullView results, so stay tuned.

The idea of integrating all media results into one screen isn't entirely new, with Google's Onebox and other search engines integrating news and images into their results in the past.

But this is the first time such integration has been so blatant and bold. FullView uses the entire right side of the results page to display the alternative media search offerings. The FullView results have "click to expand" functions and Hover Tags which provide more information about the FullView item.

What FullView has done, is reduce the real estate available for ads and sponsored listings. It will be interesting to see how AOL monetizes the new full view services, especially when they set up an API for anyone to use.

To see the AOL FullView in action visit either Aol.com or AOL Search and enter the search term "The Beatles" and you'll be inundated with audio, video, images and news.

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 5:17 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Digg.com Goes Drilling for US$150 Million Acquisition Offer

Digg.com is the latest web 2.0 company chasing a lucrative acquisition deal. In the wake of Google's phenomenal purchase of YouTube, Digg is hoping to find a buyer willing to fork out over US$150 million for their user generated news site.

According to the press, they have had discussions with several potential buyers, with News Corp.'s Fox Interactive being the most notable contender. News Corp is the owner of social networking heavyweight MySpace, so Digg could be seen as a logical add-on to their suite of social websites.

The challenge Digg.com is facing in its attempt to secure a satisfactory acquisition offer, is their controversial visitor volumes. Digg.com claims they have 20 million unique visitors per month, which is substantially higher than the reports by comScore which show only 1.3 million unique visitors.

While there are some questions regarding the validity of comScore's report, these conflicting reports will cause concerns for potential buyers as they try to get a true sense of Digg.com's value.

If Digg is unable to secure a deal in the next fortnight or so, they will be forced to close a US$5 million second round financing later this year. Who knows - maybe Google or Yahoo! have some spare change in the bank to expand their social services?

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 4:47 AM GMT | View Post | 1 Comments

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New Yahoo! Bookmarks - What about Del.icio.us?


Yahoo! has unveiled a new bookmarks service. While not totally new - they've taken an old and somewhat unpublicized bookmarking service and given it a total overhaul. Which begs the question - What are their plans for del.icio.us?

The new Yahoo! Bookmarks service which is built on their old bookmarking service claims to have around 20 million active users, compared to del.icio.us which only has 1 million users to date.

The new service, available from new.bookmarks.yahoo.com includes a new interface and new back end, with the key improvements including caching of all text on a page, thumbnail page views, and of course tagging and categories.

Tom Chi, one of Yahoo!'s developers created a great screencast overview of the new service which can be viewed here. Compare it to the old Bookmarks service, which is viewable here, and you'll get an understanding of how big the makeover was.

Yahoo!'s Bookmarks integrates with their recently launched new toolbar to allow for simple one-click bookmarking and suggests bookmarked pages when using the toolbar for searching.

What will be interesting is if they fulfill on their suggestions that the new bookmarks might be integrated into their search results. So you might start seeing peer bookmarks along side Yahoo!'s organic and paid search results in the not too distant future.

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 3:44 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Browsers: Is There A New Place To Flock?

I'm a keen photographer, and was browsing the net the other day in search of the ideal online uploading/storing and sharing site. I came across Flock, the social browser!

Some extra functional areas make Flock very enjoyable to use. Firstly, uploading photos and then entering them into blogs, MySpace, or as photo comments onto other social sites is a simple drag-and-drop! If you are a Flickr or Photobucket user, you can also view any of your photos, or everyone's pictures, on a nifty preview screen that scrolls along the top of the browser window (disabling this is easy, should you find it distracting).


Click on image for larger view


Flock also offers users a unique My News page, a simple tree navigation pane on the left of the window. Simply find news, blogs or any other RSS feeds that appeal to you, click a subscribe button, and hey presto, Flock will take you to your My News page and allow you to drag and drop the feed into a folder of your choice!

Favorites are easy to create, organize and even display on a specialized toolbar, making visiting your favorite pages easier!

For any individual, or business, wanting to stay up-to-date with the online world Flock just may be the way. Check it out for yourself, and convert into a lover of Flock!


Posted by Lara Appelhans at 12:35 AM GMT | View Post | 1 Comments

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Friday, October 20

Google's Minus 30 Penalty: Should you be worried?

Talk about a new secret Google penalty is heating up over at Webmaster World forums, with some users complaining of a 30 spot ranking drop in just one day.

The thread starts with a poster upset over a sudden ranking drop,
"I just got my site rank #31 on its own domain name and bunch of keywords/phrases I usually watch were bumped from #1 to "precisely #31. Those #2 through #10 are sort of all over the map but generally within the first 60 results."

Speculation over the cause of the penalty seems to suggest it comes from 'black-hat' or unethical SEO practices. These are methods that attempt to artificially boost your search engine ranking, but do not follow search engine guidelines. From Webmaster World, "I had the same problem few months ago, I believe was an anchor text over optimization. From #1 to exactly #31, still haven't recovered, but slowly going back".

The specific ranking drop of 30 points has led many to believe the penalty is automated and built in to Google's searching algorithm, but, not surprisingly, there has been no comment from Google on this particular issue.

If you're looking for a SEO solution that won't get you penalized, why not try out our Optimizer Kit Plus and save 10% for only 4 more days! You can also find more information about which optimization tactics comply and which don't comply with Google's Webmaster Guidelines in "Google's Webmaster Guidelines: Straight from the Horse's Mouth".

Posted by Matthew Elshaw at 6:14 AM GMT | View Post | 10 Comments

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Thursday, October 19

Is This A Google and Yahoo! Advertising Partnership?


Our resident pay-per-click expert noticed something quite unusual on the Google AdWords admin page yesterday. There was a special offer for Yahoo! Small Business customers with a link back to the Yahoo! website.

Initially we thought it might be a technical glitch or even worse a hallucination from working too hard (lol), but sure enough, after checking the URL on other computers, the special offer was still visible. (See screen shot)

So is this the sign of a new Google - Yahoo! advertising partnership?

Well I have scoured the web for details of any joint campaigns or partnerships between these two search titans, but have found no information to explain the offer. Let's face it - it's highly unlikely, which makes the offer all the more unexpected.

It's the sort of advertising partnership that would have the executives at MSN and Ask.com running for cover, not too mention all the tier two search engines with sponsored advertising programs.

Now before anyone asks the question, this is not a doctored image but an actual screenshot. So if anyone has any information and/or speculation they'd like to share leave a comment below, as I'd love to get to the bottom of this.

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 9:21 AM GMT | View Post | 2 Comments

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New: Web Page Optimizer for Google AdWords Clients

Website Optimizer Combinations ReportGoogle has released a new tool that allows its AdWords clients to carry out sophisticated page testing and improve the conversion of landing pages - for free.

Anyone who runs a website knows how critical good conversion of you web pages is and how small changes to your page content can have a dramatic (positive or negative) influence on your conversion rate.

The challenge for most small businesses so far has been that testing various combinations of the elements on your web page and trying to determine which combination results in the highest conversion, is not easy. You have to be able to make frequent changes to your website, and also have very good analytics and reporting to determine statistically significant results. So when website owners do any testing at all, they often resort to fairly simple A/B tests - you change one single element at a time and see which version of your page performs better. Seeing real impact on conversion with this approach can take a long time, and you might also miss out on winning combinations of different page elements.

There are a number of companies that offer more advanced multivariate testing systems, which allow you to test multiple combinations of multiple page element variations at the same time. However, this kind of advanced statistical testing software doesn't come cheap ... that is, until now.

The Website Optimizer tool that Google has beta-launched for AdWords advertisers in cooperation with EpikOne and Optimost looks pretty impressive. For the vast majority of small and medium sized businesses, it will be a huge step forward for page testing. It allows users to set up conversion experiments for landing pages with the help of Google Analytics and some Javascript files that need to be inserted on the landing and conversion pages.

Website owners can then create several versions of critical page elements - for example, three different headlines, three different images and three different versions of a product description - and Google's Website Optimizer software will automatically display combinations of the variations and determine which single combination performs best. While multivariate testing is fairly complex, the reports that Google provides look intuitive and seem pretty easy to understand. Advertisers can then permanently implement the best performing page combination - until they start a new round of testing.

Google's Website Optimizer picks up at a point that all website owners are familiar with: It's not enough to get qualified traffic to your site, you also need to ensure that you web pages are designed in the most user-friendly and conversion-friendly way possible. The Website Optimizer looks like a great tool to do exactly that, and apart from the time that you need to invest, it will be free for all AdWords advertisers.

Is Google doing this out of the sheer goodness of their hearts? I would doubt that. If you improve your conversion, your return-on-investment on you advertising expenditure increases, and you can afford to spend more on advertising. So you will make more money - but Google will hope that you'll spend more money with them, too.

Are there any downsides? Google will have access to sensitive information about your website performance and conversion rate. Some website owners might not be happy about that, but many might be happy to accept this in exchange for free tools that would be out of their reach otherwise.

As mentioned, Google's Website Optimizer is currently in a limited beta release. If you are an AdWords advertiser, you can apply to be included in the beta test phase and find more information on Google's Website Optimizer info page.

Posted by Nancy Hackett at 8:14 AM GMT | View Post | 1 Comments

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Ms Dewey: Search Mistress Gives Searching a New Twist

The Ms Dewey Search EngineEver felt that searching is far too impersonal for you? Well, a new search engine called Ms Dewey has recently launched that offers a whole new interactive experience. Instead of seeing a whole screen of search results black on white, search results only take up half a page on Ms Dewey. The rest of the site's real estate is taken up by Ms Dewey herself - an avatar that talks to you as you search and even hassles you if you have periods of inactivity.

The visual look of Ms Dewey (built in Flash) is pretty impressive, with an ultra-modern cityscape as a backdrop. The most striking feature is Ms Dewey herself - she is embodied by the beautiful actress and musician Janina Gavankar.

However, in terms of functionality, Ms Dewey is a letdown: The video loops are quite choppy at times and get repetitive quickly, and most importantly, the search results take quite a while to load and are pretty difficult to scroll through.

Search is powered by Microsoft Live Search, and while Microsoft's involvement in this site isn't promoted anywhere on www.msdewey.com, this is what Microsoft had to say to David M. Ewalt, a forbes.com blogger who blogged about the site: "Who says search can't be fun? At Windows Live we are constantly exploring new and creative ways to promote our search offering and deliver relevant information in an interesting and engaging way. The Ms. Dewey website is just one example of these efforts. This is not an advertising campaign. This really just an experiment for exploring different ways to introduce people to search and Live Search specifically. We are not promoting the site but simply putting it out on the Web for discovery."

I had assumed that any attempt to give search a more human face had died when ask.com sent Jeeves into retirement. I'm not convinced that Ms Dewey will fare much better. Granted, she does have more sex appeal than Jeeves, but will that really matter more than fast, convenient and relevant search results?

What I do like about Ms Dewey though, is that to me, she appears to give us a little taste of where media convergence may be heading. Doesn't the search interface remind you of a television news studio with an anchorwoman behind her desk? That's quite a departure as far as search interfaces are concerned. She also shows that information search doesn't necessarily have to be dry, but can be quite entertaining. If you are curious, check her out at www.msdewey.com and let us know what you think!

Posted by Nancy Hackett at 4:03 AM GMT | View Post | 8 Comments

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Wednesday, October 18

Yahoo! Search Marketing "Panama" Upgrade Gets Released Early

After a couple of weeks filled with issues, poor industry responses and bad PR, Yahoo! has ebbed the negative trend to release their long awaited Panama Advertising Platform upgrade ahead of schedule.

Yahoo!'s "Panama" release has been talked about for what seems like an eternity and with early company statements suggesting a Q4 2006 release, and then a Q1 2007 release, finally it's here for us to enjoy.

So what's on offer and what's still to come?
  • Far more user friendly, professional and graphical interface.
  • While bugs are still evident, Yahoo! suggests they equipped to deploy fixes faster.
  • Apparently ad approvals will be much quicker
  • Dayparting is still absent from Panama, but scheduling has been implemented.
  • Budgeting and forecasting is now presented in a great dynamic AJAX interface.
  • Great geo-targeting capabilities which have been long overdue.
  • The expected "Quality Index" ranking factor won't be fully implemented until Q1 2007 but index scores are being displayed in preparation.
  • Like Google, it appears the platform API will soon incur a fee for usage.
  • Development is under way for simplified expansion of the Yahoo Search Marketing program to include video, mobile and other new initiatives.
All in all, the platform looks and functions really well, and will make campaign management far more enjoyable for Yahoo! advertisers. While many of the features are merely catch ups to Google's AdWords platform, other initiatives set some trends for the future.

This release is not only a welcome improvement for the many current Yahoo! Search Marketing users, but also warmly received by Yahoo! shareholders who have surely been sweating their investments over the last few weeks.

Well done Yahoo! for leveling the playing field

Invites to use the new system begin next week. To get involved early, submit a request via this online form.

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 10:07 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Tuesday, October 17

Hurry! Search Marketing Sale Ends October 23!

The ineedhits 10th Birthday celebrations are coming to an end, and there are only 6 days left to grab a sale bargain or enter our competition to win an ounce of gold! If you are a non-profit organization, you've also only got 6 days left to submit you registration to receive free SEO services.

Sale Ends on Monday - Only 6 Days Left!

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Don't wait - act now to grab a bargain! Sale ends October 23, 2006.

Last Chance to Win an Ounce of Gold!

Be quick! Take our search marketing quiz and enter our 10th birthday competition now for your chance to win one ounce of gold. One ounce of gold is currently valued at US$597, so it's most definitely worth entering the draw. Enter the competition now!

Free SEO for Non-Profits

As part of our 10th birthday celebrations, we are giving away 10 search engine optimization packages valued at $600 each to not-for-profit organizations which otherwise might not have the resources to spend on search engine optimization. Simply submit your application on our Charity Giveaway page!

The free SEO packages include keyword analysis and subsequent code optimization on 10 web pages, ALT tag creation for all images on 10 web pages, the creation of a HTML site map file for your site, and the submission of 10 pages to 300+ search engines and directories. Each of the 10 packages are valued at $600. Submit your application now!

Thank you to everyone who helped us celebrate our birthday and contributed to our "Where Were You 10 Years Ago?" and BirthdayWishes blogs. We really enjoyed your stories and look forward to the next 10 years. We'll make sure the blog posts remain accessible from our main website.

Posted by Nancy Hackett at 4:30 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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The Secret Formula to Google's Ranking Process

Are you obsessed with knowing how Google determines its rankings?

While the rules seem to be changing constantly, I discovered an algorithm equation recently that gives a fairly accurate representation of how Google probably determines its rankings.

Randfish's post on SEOmoz, has provided a suggested formula for Google's algorithm. While he believes the weight/factor expression is oversimplified, it does give a good indication of the elements that determine the enigmatic Google ranking.

So here is his formula:

GoogScore = (KW Usage Score * 0.3) + (Domain Strength * 0.25) + (Inbound Link Score * 0.25) + (User Data * 0.1) + (Content Quality Score * 0.1) + (Manual Boosts) - (Automated & Manual Penalties)


So what does it all mean? Below is an brief explanation of the factors.

Keyword (KW ) Usage:
Keyword usage is comprised of several elements of website design and optimization. They include keyword usage in your Meta data optimization, keyword density of body copy, internal linking, and URL construction to name a few.

Domain Strength:
Domain strength refers to the age of your domain and its registration history. Older domains with a strong stable history are viewed more favorably.

Inbound Link Score:
There's no secret to the value of inbound links in Google rankings. When assessing inbound links, Google looks at factors like link age, quality of web page source, linking text, and relevance of source website to determine your link score.

User Data:
This is based on Google behavioural data from their users. The number of times your URL is clicked on, search requests for the domain, and other historical usage factors contribute towards your User Data score.

Quality Score:
This is probably determined by Google manually either by using human scoring, or specialized algos that determine page quality independent of the core algorithm.

Manual Boosts:
Randfish believes that Google on occasion manually boosts a website that it perceives to be important and relevant but is not strong enough to rank highly on its own. I am unaware of this practice, but on occasion, I have questioned some of Google's rankings.

Automated & Manual Penalties:
Of course with all the positive factors, there has to be negative factors, and by going through Google's guidelines, you'll get a better understanding of the numerous factors and practices that can get a web page penalized.

While this is not a authorized version of the Google algorithm (as if they would share that sort of information), I think Randfish has covered the key ranking elements quite well in his suggested algorithm formula.

Now you know the key factors, what are you waiting for? Remember high rankings rarely happen over night, and optimization is an ongoing process, so don't be fooled into thinking that you'll get to the top tomorrow by acting now. The issue is, if you don't act – you'll never get to the top.

Thanks Randfish for the heads up on the formula.

Posted by Rene LeMerle at 2:22 AM GMT | View Post | 0 Comments

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Monday, October 16

SEO Tip: Google's Supplemental Results

What exactly are Google's supplemental results, why does everyone fear getting indexed in the supplemental index and how can you get out of the supplemental results again? Here is a quick summary of the most important facts regarding Google's supplemental results.

What Are Supplemental Results?

Here's Google's explanation of supplemental results in their Webmaster Help Center:
"A supplemental result is just like a regular web result, except that it's pulled from our supplemental index. We're able to place fewer restraints on sites that we crawl for this supplemental index than we do on sites that are crawled for our main index. For example, the number of parameters in a URL might exclude a site from being crawled for inclusion in our main index; however, it could still be crawled and added to our supplemental index.
If you're a webmaster, please note that the index in which a site is included is completely automated; there's no way to select or change the index in which a site appears. Please also be assured that the index in which a site is included doesn't affect its PageRank."

How Do You Know You Are Looking at a Supplemental Result?

On Google's search results pages, the term "Supplemental Result" is listed on the last line of a search result, behind the page's URL and size. Example:
www.test.com/2006/09/example-article.asp - 33k - Supplemental Result - Cached - Similar pages

Why Does a Page Land in the Supplemental Results?

Accepted wisdom says that supplemental results are basically a tool to thwart search engine spam - including spammy doorway pages, duplicate content or spammy blog post pages in the supplemental results will prevent them from ranking higher in Google than legitimate content. Another explanation is that if Google has some kind of trouble indexing the page, it gets placed in the supplemental results.

What Do Supplemental Results Mean for Your Ranking?

Historically, pages in the supplemental result have not been spidered as frequently as pages in the regular Google index, and the index may also contain less data about the URL - so basically, the page is considered less important than a page in the regular index. A supplemental page will normally show up in search results behind regular index results, which is obviously not good for your ranking at all. Some people also assume (rightly or wrongly) that a supplemental result is less trustworthy than a regular result.

On the positive side, Google states that the PageRank (which heavily relies on the number and quality of inbound links to a page) is unaffected by whether the pages is in the regular or supplemental results. Google's Matt Cutts also mentioned in one of his video blogs from July 2006 that Google's supplemental results team has made an effort to increase the speed with which supplemental results are being refreshed, so there should be less of a problem with infrequent spidering in the future.

How Can You Get Out of the