What Sitelinks Enhancements Mean For Content Creators

Google has kept content creators busy this year.

First, the search giant announced several display changes to AdWords (Pay-Per-Click). 

Earlier this month, Google unveiled several tweaks to organic search sitelinks – updates that should grab the attention of anyone who creates content or monitors search engine performance.

As the Webmaster Central Blog describes, sitelinks are deeper links that display under certain search results. They help users quickly navigate deeper in the site while bypassing the homepage.

Before the recent changes, sitelinks were simple text links. Now, however, they appear with text links, brief meta descriptions and page URLs. In fact, they almost resemble PPC ads. Once a subtle addition to search results, sitelinks now dominate the results page when they appear. (As Hubspot points out, marketers have little control over how—or when—sitelinks are inserted into results.)

A few content-related thoughts come to mind:

Ensure your site offers unique title tags and meta descriptions. If you’ve ignored this SEO fundamental, you may minimize your sitelinks potential.

Implement a keyword-rich URL structure. So many sites have database-generated URLs filled with numbers, random characters and other nonsense. Keyword-rich URLs are more meaningful to users and search engines, particularly when they display as sitelinks.

Focus on the first few words of your meta description. Sitelink descriptions are limited to 25-30 characters, so it’s important to “sell” the page quickly and accurately. (Google won’t always display the meta description, but it’s still important to optimize this area.)

Offer context and guidance on subpages. Users are led to subpages from search engine results (including sitelinks), site search results, social media and other sources. When they arrive, be sure your content orients and guides them to the key information they seek.