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Google’s Expanded Sitelinks: Good or Bad Update?
by Heidi Miget on 9.13.2011 in Company News, Interactive Marketing 1
In mid-August, Google made a significant update to their search engine results pages (SERPs) when they introduced expanded sitelinks. Previously, sitelinks were a list of popular pages found within that website – a helpful display which allowed the user to get to a particular site destination more quickly.
This most recent update takes the concept to a whole new level. In addition to providing the links, Google now displays the URL for each page with one line of text describing the page for branded searches. Here’s what a set of sitelinks currently looks like for a search for “Brighton agency”:
That is a significant amount of space compared to the previous results, and that’s not even the largest example – for some sites, Google will display up to 12 sitelinks!
From a marketing standpoint, I’m excited about this change. I’ve worked on PPC and SEO campaigns for years, and in those realms, it’s all about getting exposure and visibility in the SERPs. So I admittedly “geeked out” when I realized this change had taken place.
And while it may be a little too early to tell for sure, our site engagement from branded search visitors appears to have increased when looking at pages per visit and average time spent on site. This change is a win-win in my opinion, as it gives sites more prominent listings and allows visitors to find what they need more easily.
However, not everyone appears to share this excitement. Some of the conversations I’ve seen in social chatter mention worries that this crowds the already oversaturated Google search results page.
I will admit I was shocked at first to see just how much space the sitelinks take up, but after investigating further I learned that you only see these if you’ve made a branded search and Google is confident this is the site you are looking for. If Google is less confident, you may see fewer links. Here is a search for “Brighton marketing” only displaying two links compared to the ten links for the “Brighton agency” search:
How do you feel about this change? Do you feel it is beneficial or obtrusive?
Heidi, I think that this is a great development–that is, for website owners who have well-optimized sites.
This certainly should make website owners take a second look at their meta description tags (as well as navigation links, as it appears that Google is using those in place of meta titles for sitelink titles). Having content that might match a searcher’s query right at the beginning of a description tag, rather than brand messaging or fluff, used to be a best practice; with this new sitelinks format, it’s essential.
Owners of established sites who are interested in running PPC campaigns should also look at Google Ad Sitelinks–I’m sure you’ve heard that Google is now displaying up to six of those on certain AdWords ads. These paid and organic sitelink developments are great news for all types of brands, as they make it easier for brands to own prime SERP real estate for their own branded queries. (For brands who compete with distributors or franchisees for positioning in the search engine rankings, it isn’t always easy to do this!) Thanks for the article, Heidi!