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Google Site Links
January 15th, 2008 · by David Bradley >> 8 Comments
Do you have a website or blog? Do you use Google’s Webmaster Tools? If not, why not? It’s one of the greatest tools available for free to help you improve the search engine optimization (SEO) aspects of your site.
With Google Webmaster Tools you can grab lists of top keywords and phrases that bring readers to your site, analyze subscribers who use Google Reader to load your RSS newsfeed, and get the lowdown on which sites are linking to which pages.
One of the newer tools available, is SiteLinks. You may have seen Google Site Links associated with some of the bigger sites in the SERPs (Search Engine Results Pages).
Not all sites are selected to have SiteLinks show up, but think of the advantages of those being on show for your site. There are few things you can do to persuade Google to display Site Links, Creating static pages with simple names – About, FAQ, Search, Comments, Directory, Our Stuff, Blue Widgets (that kind of thing) and a site-wide footer-type navigation bar that links directly to those is thought to help.
Of the various sites I run, a handful have SiteLinks pending in Google Webmaster Tools. I can see the pages, Google will one day display as links below my SERPs entry, although it is yet to be enabled. On the same page, I can block any particular page I don’t think Google should display as a SiteLink. There’s a feedback box when you submit the block in which you can explain why a particular page should be removed. Whether or not Google takes any notice is a different matter.
It occurred to me while writing this post, that logging into your Google Webmaster Tools account, and editing the SiteLinks (if they’re showing) might somehow flag up your site to the Google algorithm. Now, that I’ve edited the SiteLinks for Sciencebase’s entry, I’m watching the SERPs carefully to see whether they suddenly appear. I’m not going to adjust the SiteLinks showing for Sig Figes just yet. I’ll let you know what, if anything, happens to those sites.
UPDATE: Well, Sciencebase and two of my other sites which had showed SiteLinks in GWMTs are now showing the live sitelinks when you search for them by name. What that means to people who aren’t searching for those sites by name, I don’t know. Probably not a lot as they won’t see them. But, it all happened within about a month of making some minor navigational changes to the site and first seeing SiteLinks in GWMT. Click the image to see the full-size screen grab from the SERPs today (Feb 20, 2008).
8 responses so far ↓
Wayne Smallman // Jan 15, 2008 at 9:18 pm
I’ve been studying Sitelinks for some time, and there’s a whole boat load of criteria that can and will influence their allocation to your ‘blog or website.
Probably the most obvious is any search phrase which land you at the top, like: “Science Text”, as an example.
But there’s a stranger side to this — if someone had the mind to constantly link to a specific web page of yours with the anchor text: “Loser!”, and you got enough traffic from that, that might just translate into a Sitelink.
That’s an extreme example, and Google’s anti-Googlebomb algorithms might just do away with such things, but I have seen some oddities before now…
Wayne Smallman’s last blog post..UTalkMarketing – Social media will “make or break brands” [del.icio.us]
CatherineL // Jan 15, 2008 at 11:30 pm
They’re bringing out so many new tools it’s tough to keep up. I’ll check out site link. Thanks.
CatherineL’s last blog post..Businesses, Bloggers And Why It’s Just Plain Stupid To Bash The Competition
David Bradley // Jan 16, 2008 at 7:45 am
What we need to do to get a better handle on all of Google’s foibles is for one of to get a job at Google working on its inner secrets…
…seriously though, SiteLinks are a bistable state, they either show up in the SERPs or they don’t. Obviously, if someone cannot see them in WMTools for their site then there is nothing to show up, but I suspect it could flip at any time and without knowing the key factor(s) there is no way of knowing if and when that might happen.
As to the Googlebombing aspect of this. Webmaster’s do have the “block” device for specific SiteLinks. I’d strongly recommend that all webmasters and bloggers keep an eye on this section of their WMT accounts and block anythins spurious as soon as it appears, just in case Google makes that bistable flip tomorrow.
db
David Bradley // Jan 16, 2008 at 7:54 am
CatherineL, as I just said, this Tool is definitely worth keeping an eye on. You can spend too long worrying about keywords and inbounds, but knowing that Google has pending SiteLinks for your site will give you a nice warm feeling, especially when they eventually show up in the SERPs.
db
David Bradley // Feb 25, 2008 at 10:14 am
Sitelinks are now showing for my sites on all data centers. I’ll let you know whether that actually has any impact on traffic later.
db
Shirley // Jul 18, 2008 at 10:37 pm
Well, I am very interested in this concept. I’ve been doing a bit of research on my own, but have yet to get sitelinks for my website.
Of course, my website had a huge overhaul on Jan 1, so Google is probably waiting a bit before it decides to trust me.
Shirleys last blog post..6 Things You Didn’t Know About Google
David Bradley // Jul 20, 2008 at 9:19 pm
I cannot actually see any real benefit to having Site Links unless you’re already a well-known brand. Who’s going to be searching for velvetblues or sciencetext to actually see them in the SERPs?
David Bradley // May 5, 2009 at 10:40 am
At long last, Google has seen fit to endow Sciencetext with live SiteLinks:
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