Over the past few weeks, Google has been testing really large expanded Sitelinks in the search results for some queries for the past few weeks.
After much testing, Google finally posted official confirmation that these new large sitelinks are here to stay.
Google Expands Sitelinks:
Google said the Sitelinks will now be “full-size links with a URL and one line of snippet text.” The links and snippets will be very similar to the standard regular results, which Google says makes “it even easier to find the section of the site you want.” Plus, Google is upping the number of sitelinks from eight to twelve sitelinks for these queries.
Here is a picture:
Google Improves Sitelinks Algorithm
Google also said they have made “a significant improvement to our algorithms by combining sitelink ranking with regular result ranking to yield a higher-quality list of links.” Google said this “reduces link duplication and creates a better organized search results page.”
I personally see the changes now, but if you do not, you may see them in the next few days.
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Related Topics: Features: General | Google: Sitelinks | Google: User Interface | Google: Web Search | Top News
it appears that 12 doesnt always show up. I’ve tried some brands and only gotten 6 site links (here in dallas). Brand searches like chickenexpress, dicks sporting goods, and gamerstube all showed 6 sitelinks. the moment the TLD is added to the query more sitelinks pop in (between 8-12 total)
so chickenexpress = 6 sitelinks + local listing
and chickene.com = 9 sitelinks + local listings
dickssportinggoods = 6 sitelinks + search box
dickssportinggoods.com = 10 sitelinks + search box
gamerstube = 6 sitelinks
gamerstube.com = 12 sitelinks
my guess is number of sitelinks is based on volume + intent. it’s fairly obvious that someone searching for youtube.com on google wants something on that website and makes sense to show more. likewise searchengineland gets more volume than chickenexpress (according to adwords external keyword tool)
this is a great way to reward brands for pushing offline and display marketing.
I took a quick look at Google searching for the full URL of four of the sites I work on… Looking at our two biggest sites: Our biggest/oldest site with the largest volume of traffic has 10, our second biggest/second oldest has 12. Then looking at two of our smallest sites: the older one has 7 and the younger one (which has been live maybe 3 months now) has 9. Seems a very odd range.
I am currently investigating how this affects Australian search results. I ran a few queries with and without TLD and noticed not much difference in the result.
More and bigger Sitelinks is good BUT I am still very annoyed and aggravated by this.
Why you ask?
Google will not let me change them or even display them in Webmaster Tools.
While I somewhat understand the frustration with not being able to control the sitelinks, I can’t help but think that webmasters should chill out a little bit. The links are massive and take up the vast majority of the SERP above the fold, and I’m guessing Google is doing analysis on their side to determine which links to show. Just sit back and enjoy the traffic.
Thank you for sharing. I am also getting varied results in terms of the number of links. This certainly affects aspects of Brand Reputation Management as now more realestate above the fold is dedicated to site page.
Also, having compelling SEO Title Tags will play an even more vital role on interior pages, and you can use the analytics to determine fluctuations in bounce rates.
Back to the lab :)
Interesting… I just checked my own company’s listing and sure enough it’s now showing the full 12 pack.
Very mixed feelings on this, yes I enjoy having a larger portion of the search page, but;
- Cant amend these in web master tools
- It seems to randomly ignore title tags
- Totally ignores meta descriptions which is terrible as I know I get a small snippet of text which makes no sense unless you read the full sentence.
- And I just think it looks really ugly.
Im kind of irritated that Google preach so much about titie tags and meta descriptions, I go through all the hard work of making them perfect; and then they totally ignore them and choose their own.
I definitely agree that this looks a little funky, but this is what I call “Job Security!” SE’s are constantly changing and updating the way they serve results, and I can pretty much guarantee that’s never going to change. I think it’s in an SEO’s best interest to keep that in mind…
Here’s my take away (shun me if you will)…I think we’re moving closer and closer to an era where each page within a site will require excellent “content” aaaaaaaannnnndd “design.” What do I mean? If Google’s going to open up my entrance pages, I better make sure each entrance page is ready for increased traffic.
It looks as if they may have dropped it to 6 links now. I’ve tried it for
Nike, Tesco, Currys, PCWorld, BMW, BBC, CNN. and numerous others, they’ve all gone from 12 Sitelinks down to 6 + 1 main link.
Regards
Gav.
Same for TurboTax, Quicken, Intuit, Quickbooks, etc. Might this be due to the click through rates on the links and reducing them to most useful/used?