Google is experimenting with a change that expands the prominence of sitelinks on search results pages for brands. The new presentation makes the sitelinks larger and brings in the meta description and destination URL.
The Continued Rollout of Expanded Sitelinks
Sitelinks have been a part of the search engine results page since 2006, but they’ve always been limited. Here’s what a set of sitelinks for Search Engine Watch looks like right now:
The new version of sitelinks, however, takes up substantially more space. Here’s a picture of extended sitelinks from Matthew Ridout at SEOUnique:
Here’s another from Webmaster World:
Meanwhile, the BBC News website features 13 big sitelinks (image from David Naylor’s blog) below the news headlines Google began incorporating in the search results in May:
We reported on this sitelink test in April, and in recent days the buzz has been growing about the new sitelinks presentation. Early information indicates that this is an experiment rolling out to select regions, most notably the UK. I’ve been unable to recreate the expanded sitelinks, but users in Spain, Germany, and Japan have seen the expanded sitelinks sporadically, according to Webmaster World discussion.
It seems the expanded sitelinks are only happening for highly specific queries that signal “navigational intent” for the targeted site. However, most webmasters discussing the issue see the choice as favoring big brands at the expense of potential competitors, because the expanded sitelinks take up so much of the space above the fold.
What You Need to Change
The change to the interface does have an impact, albeit a small one, for webmasters. Since the expanded sitelinks show the destination URL, title, and a snippet of the description, it’s a good idea to check on your pages. The great news is that if you’ve been doing your due diligence on every page, nothing extra will be needed on your part. However, just in case, here’s a checklist:
- Make sure you have a good meta description that looks professional when just the first 40 characters are shown.
- Make sure you have an attractive destination URL.
- Make sure you have an attractive and succinct meta title.
Related reading
5 most interesting search marketing news stories of the week
Welcome to our weekly round-up of all the latest news and research from the world of search marketing and beyond.
The 4 scariest online marketing disasters and how to avoid them
As marketers, CEOs and managers we deal with too many fears daily: We have too many disasters to avoid. Let this article serve as a checklist to help you avoid some of the most unfortunate and embarrassing online marketing disasters.
Should Google be more transparent with its updates?
Most of Google's algorithm updates nowadays are unconfirmed and unannounced, leaving website owners and SEOs guessing as to what caused a change in ranking and what they can do to fix it. Does Google owe it to its users to be more transparent?
How well do you know Search Engine Watch? The SEW Friday quiz
Following the success of our previous Easter trivia quiz, we decided to mix it up again this Friday with another quiz - this time testing how well you've been paying attention to the content we've been publishing on Search Engine Watch this week.
