Question A. Ever do a search in Google with the default 10 results shown on a page, and then switch the default to something else? If yes, then move to question B.

Question B. Did you ever notice that ones rankings can change a few placements from depending on the requested number of results per page?

A thread at WebmasterWorld discusses just that. valeyard in msg # 3 sums this up perfectly, and GoogleGuy in msg # 5 backs these statements up.

Example: let's say you do a search with "num=10". The results on page one are:

Site A
Site B
Site C - page 1
...Site C - page 2
Site D - page 1
...Site D - page 2
Site E
Site F
YOUR SITE
Site G

So your site is #9.

Now imagine setting num=5. The first page is now:

Site A
Site B
Site C - page 1
...Site C - page 2
Site D - page 1

It makes no sense to have the second page from site D indented at the top of page two, so page 2 is:

Site E
Site F
YOUR SITE
Site G
Site H

Hey presto! Your site has jumped to position 8.

The lower the value of "num" the more chance of indented pages being cut off like this - which seems to fit what you're seeing.

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