Google Testing 12 Sitelinks
I had only read a thread in webmasterworld about 12 sitelinks, but just saw this happen in my chrome browser today. All plugins are disabled, although I am signed in to my Google account:
The main listing, 10 sitelinks + more results from abercrombie = 12 link properties on the first page. That’s one heck of an authority play for brands in Google. But it gets bigger:
12 sitelinks + main listing + more results from freepeople.com = 14 link properties on the first page. If you’re getting the most out of your PPC, this example shows 9 links in the PPC area above & on the right side and 14 links in organic results. That’s 23 opportunities to get to your site above the fold. It’s not just apparel companies, they just happened to be the ones that triggered this:
And finally the White House:
13 link properties on the first page + a site search box.
Way too early to jump to any conclusions, the only thing this immediately shows is that Google is testing giving brand queries more authority & space in search results. I’ll post any updates on my twitter – @adammm
Posted: 08.04.11
Adrian Drysdale:
WOW! Have never seen sitelinks that big. I can see every business in the world wanting this.
Ian Bowden:
This isn’t new; have had these results and then for a couple of months. I agree with the authors remarks though.
Kane:
Wow, talk about some brand preference – that’s 80% of the screen dedicated to your company… and that’s assuming that someone else is ranking for your second spot, which could be easily overtaken by a Facebook or Twitter page. There’s not even paid listings getting in the way on those examples, aside from FreePeople having their own ad show up.
Adam Melson:
Adrian- definitely big if they roll it out.
Ian – I searched through your site & Arena’s and didn’t find anything on this. Have you been seeing anything different? I’m seeing Google providing 10-12 for some more major site, but also changing up how they display just 2-4 sitelinks. The more knowledge & examples we have out there, the better we’ll be able to digest these potential changes.
Kane – definitely pushing the brand preference, with twitter, facebook & possibly another related site a company could take out everything above the break. Crazy.
John:
Certainly Google is trying to change so many things!
Just few hour back – I saw a PPC ad having 4 sitelinks 9Sorry didn’t take the screenshot – but pls believe me) for a search I was doing!
So guys be ready to get more selfish conduct on the part of Google that would give more importance to its revenue than its users in the near future. After all its jut a business and nothing else — the Google shareholders will always want profits and Google will have to innovate ways to multiply it. PERIOD!
Christian Oliveira:
Those sitelinks are appearing in Spain sometimes too. In our case, the new sitelinks gets more attraction from the user but less space compared to the previous SERPs. Compare the new one: http://twitpic.com/63bwkl with the “classical” one: http://twitpic.com/63c5bp (see the position of the Twitter account).
I think this will probably change a lot when Google let companies create Google+ profiles, as they will be able to integrate not only pages from a domain but social networks associated with them, people working for them, and so on.
Mark:
Adding a quick update here…
Not seeing it for hyper-competitive kws where there are exact match domains…
Cheap Flights: http://screencast.com/t/iv1OqWK4WSsr
SEO Company: http://screencast.com/t/0CXogzAx
…but…we are seeing them in somehwat less competitive spaces like
Blank Shirts: http://screencast.com/t/06e1lh30
Natural Area Rugs: http://screencast.com/t/hqailIE7Zu2y
Will be very interesting to see how this continues to impact queries with exact-match domains.
Brett:
Quick update to Mark’s comment…natural area rugs example can be seen here: http://screencast.com/t/YP9vWp8i
Christian Oliveira:
They’ve just announced this change officially: http://insidesearch.blogspot.com/2011/08/evolution-of-sitelinks-expanded-and.html
Todd Bertsch:
These new sitelinks are really helpful arn’t they!? We just wrote a new post explaining how to control your site’s sitelinks. Check it out!
http://blog.evolvecreativegroup.com/post/2011/08/25/How-to-build-Your-Site-for-Googles-New-12-Pack-Sitelinks.aspx