Google Expands Sitelinks Beyond Top Search Result

Apr 16, 2009 at 3:39pm ET by Matt McGee

You’ve probably seen it yourself already, and now Google has confirmed some changes to how sitelinks appear in their search results.

In the past, sitelinks only showed below the No. 1 listing in the search results, and they typically appeared in two columns with up to eight total links. That won’t change, but moving forward, it’s also not the only way sitelinks will show up. There are two changes:

Sitelinks might now show for several listings, not just the top listing on a search results page
They might appear as a single row of up to four sitelinks, rather than in two columns

Google uses the example of a search for nutrition to show this in action:

sitelinks

You can continue to use Webmaster Central to block a page from appearing as a site link. Google says they’re speeding up the response to block requests, and planning to add the ability to block sitelinks that show up below pages other than your home page.

Buzz It

Matt McGee is the Search Engine Land Assignment Editor, and offers search marketing consulting and training to businesses of all sizes. He blogs at Small Business Search Marketing and HyperlocalBlogger.com.

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