A client recently asked me if we could get sitelinks for our site in Google. I mentioned google sitelinks back in my series on Google Webmaster Tools (Part 4, specifically), but it was time for a closer look.
Just how does Google decide to put sitelinks on certain sites in their search results?
Well, as usual with Google, they don’t really tell you. Google says that the sitelinks are automatically generated using a secret algorithm. They are designed to help users find what they want on the site without having to click down into the site.
Anything that helps people find pages on your site more easily is a good idea, so it would be nice if we could get sitelinks onto the results for our sites.
Lots of SEO people have looked at sitelinks and there is a consensus on some of the requirements. Your site must:
Be more than two years old (this is going to knock a lot of sites out of contention right up front).
Be the number one result for the keyword used.
Now it’s getting a little fuzzier, but the following also seems to matter:
The number of searches made on the keywords (so being number one for obscure keywords won’t get you sitelinks).
The number of clicks you get from the searches (you’re number one on the search, but are you the one that the most people click on?).
And some other factors, like how many pages are indexed under those keywords and how many other sites link to yours.
So, you don’t need to worry about sitelinks until your site is fairly mature. Even then, you may not get them, but you can do a few things to help Google set the sitelinks correctly.
Make sure that the most important pages of your site are linked to directly from the home page. Google doesn’t seem to go more than one click in for the sitelinks.
Make sure the links to those pages are Google-friendly: no Flash or Javascript, if you use a graphic for a link make sure it has an ALT value.
Image 1
As an example of the way that Google generates sitelinks, search for ‘Celiac Disease Foundation’. At the time I wrote this article, the Celiac Disease Foundation showed up as the first result and had sitelinks. See image1.
Image 2
Now search for Celiac Disease. See image 2. Celiac Disease Foundation is still there (number two when I checked), but no sitelinks because for this keyword, it doesn’t show up as number 1.
You can read a lot more about sitelinks on the web, like on the Google Sitelinks: the Ultimate FAQ site (http://www.seopedia.org/internet-marketing-and-seo/google-sitelinks-the-ultimate-faq/).
I don’t think you should look at sitelinks as something that you need to get for your site, but as something that shows you’re doing all the right things. When sitelinks appear, that means that your site is considered by Google to be the answer to that keyword search.
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Karen,
Sitelinks are definitely a way to prove that google has begun to notice your site. They are usually provided only on direct searched to the top result. Matt Cutts usually has some great articles on how google things work. Love the blog, keep up the good work.
I appreciate your in depth look into site links. One thing I differ on though is that site links are a sign that your site is doing outstanding – not just well. It’s reserved for those privileged few sites which have done some great work optimizing and promoting their site to the point that Google wants to take the next step and make the users experience on that site even better – right from the SERPS!
One of my websites recently got included into the ‘Sitelinks holy land’. Honestly, it hasn’t made much of a difference but it is definitely cool to see.
Sitelinks. So that is what they are called.
Karen:
First and foremost I just wanted to thank you for your post on ‘sitelinks’. I had no idea why those strings of urls were under some SERP’s!
This post totally explained sitelinks for me.
Sincerely,
Daniel Tetreault
Sidney, BC
Thanks for an interesting read! I have to disagree on “Be more than two years old” tho. I have seen some of my sites getting sitelinks within one year or even less. Submitting a sitemap.xml seems to help a great deal.
pandora is right I believe. I worked on a site that had sitelinks in less than 18 months from date of domain registration. I also agree that submitting your sitemap to Google has a positive effect as well. I do not know what the “holy grail” of sitelinks are, but this is one of the best outlines of how to get there I have seen yet.
Great post. I never really understood how websites got these listings. I didn’t even know what it was called. I do have plenty of sites that are better than 2 years old so it looks like I have some work to do on those. Thanks for the info.
Zack
Backlinks are a great way to show that Google has begun to notice your site. Great blog, keep up the good work.