Help, I am in Google's supplemental results
Firstly, don't worry that you have done something wrong and Google just does not like you. There is nothing personal in it ... honestly.Matt Cutts from Google has already commented that the placement of pages between the main index and the supplemental index is purely algorithmic i.e. computers do it and not human editors.
As with most things in search engine algorithms you can guess as to what the triggers may be. Then there is always the possibility that when you are pretty sure why something is occurring, they (the search engines) go and change the algorithm and you have to start all over again!
However, based upon the work we have done with some of our clients, we are pretty sure that the URLs Google puts into its "2nd" index are ones that it doesn't wholly trust. I'd like to point out that it is the "URLs" it doesn't trust, not the company or the website overall or the words (somewhat) or the titles (somewhat), just mainly the "URL".
"OK", you say. "Now that I have stopped taking it personally, why are some of my pages, sorry URLs, in the "2nd" index on Google?".
Well, Google has decided it trusts you enough to index your pages, but is not totally sure that they are what they seem. So rather than, possibly, clutter up its main index with these pages, it uses them as a stop gap when the first index comes up short. Because it is not 100% confident of your URL, and its stability, it doesn't want to risk lowering the quality of its up front search results.
From what I have seen if you have URLs that could be dynamically generated, i.e. the URL of the page is generated on the fly and won't be the same the next time it is accessed, then Google will put about twenty of your pages into it's main index (if you have a large site and the URLs are not a complete mess) and the rest into the supplemental results index. These, not wholly trusted, URLs are mainly generated from database driven content management systems e.g. the ones that look like this - http://www.YourSite.co.uk/?pageid=6743&subject=43#doggrooming.
So, in essence, if you want to have the best chance of staying out of Google's supplemental results you should:
1. Make sure you URLs are as clean as possible i.e. invest in a CMS system that uses pages names rather than pages numbers.
2. If your URLs are a mess (and these pages are in the supplemental results) and contain any (and certainly not more that five) numbers in the URL get someone to re-programme your CMS and use a different page calling/naming technique. N.B you need to use a technique that is search engine friendly i.e. no redirects and certainly no 302 redirects.
3. Don't use any special character in your URL, like "?", "#", etc., this is another factor that Google (crudely) looks at.
4. Lastly, if your pages are dynamically generated and do have a dynamic URL ... you are where you deserve to be and you are pretty lucky that Google has tried to index you at all. If you want any search engine presence ... get a new CMS (content management system)!
I hope this helps, if you want more information on this subject, click this link, Google's supplemental results.
We would love to help you further, so ... contact SearchPath Internet Marketing and we will be happy to talk some more.
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