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Why Are Sitelinks Not Appearing On Google Searches?

Search Optimization

Not being able to regulate every aspect of your brand can be frustrating. Don't get us wrong; our local SEO team in Miami believes that you should be able to do whatever you want with your website and its content.

However, once your site is live, you can’t always control the way Google interprets and displays your website. Today, we want to discuss sitelinks: additional links that appear in Google search results and allow users to quickly access different pages on your main website.

While you can’t directly control these sitelinks, you can influence them. Today, we’ll discuss what organic sitelinks are and provide some tips on how to influence them.

What are Organic Sitelinks?

Google is working hard to simplify the process of people finding the information they're looking for on the internet. Google accomplishes this goal in many ways, one of which is by presenting organic sitelinks.

Organic sitelinks are four links that show up under the primary organic listing. These links go to other pages on your website or use fragment (#) links directly to content on the same webpage. These links can then be used to navigate between your website's pages.

Here's an example:

Google can show your content because it checks how your website's links are set up. This makes it simpler for users to find what they're looking for without digging as much.

But what happens when Google chooses content, like a landing page for a transaction, that we don't want to be in the spotlight? Is there something else you might be able to do?

How do I get rid of unwanted sitelinks?

In a nutshell, sitelinks are automatically generated by Google. No matter how hard they try, site owners and web admins can't move or get rid of a sitelink they don't want.

Google has been dropping hints about possibly using site owner feedback since February 28th, 2022. All of the directions for affecting sitelinks have been followed to no avail. But, because we don't know which changes were made, it's worth repeating.

Following these four Google-recommended best practices could improve your site's search engine results page (SERP) placement for relevant keywords.

1. Create Brief Yet Informative Page Titles

A page title is an HTML element that summarizes the main idea of a web page and appears in both the SERPs and browser tabs. It is also known as the meta title, title tag, or SEO title. It is enclosed in <title> tags and always appears within the <head> element of a page's HTML code.

The title tag informs search engine robots about the content of your page, and it assists them in determining how relevant it is to the user's search query. It can help you improve your rankings for the keyword in your title (and for the cluster around the keyword).

As a result, a title tag is an essential on-page element that should be optimized for your target keyword.

Search engines typically truncate long titles to about 50-60 characters, which adds up to 600 pixels—the width of the title in the SERP. This is why it is preferable to consider this restriction when creating the title tag. Otherwise, searchers may see an incomplete title.

Furthermore, while you must ensure that your title is readable and clickable, many SEOs have agreed on a rule: the closer the keyword is to the beginning of the title tag, the more weight it has with search engines.

Here are two examples of such titles:

  • Cropped Blue Jeans For Women: Skinny, Roomy, Flared, And More [keyword: "cropped blue jeans"]
  • CBD Oil: Is It Safe And Effective? [keyword: "CBD oil"]

2. Establish a Site Map with Useful Sections

sample sitemap
Photo from UX Design

Although we don't know how a website is organized or how it links to other pages on the same domain, our local Miami SEO experts are aware that Google values sitemaps.

Sitemaps direct search engine spiders to all of your site's sections. Technical sitemaps are commonly formatted in XML and HTML, but their structure can vary depending on their audience and purpose. As a result, search engines and other software will find it simple to crawl and index.

The Google Search Central documentation examines the structure of your website to identify shortcuts that will help users find answers to their inquiries or questions as quickly as possible.

So, if you want to improve your SERP placement, make a logical sitemap with relevant categories.

RELATED: How to Create a Site Map? Your Guide to Visual Site Maps

3. Make Concise and Descriptive Anchor Texts

Anchor texts are the visible characters and words displayed by hyperlinks when they link to another document or location on the internet. It appears as blue underlined text by default, but you can change the colors and styles of your website's links with HTML or CSS.

In addition, anchor texts provide search engines and users with relevant contextual information about the link's destination content.

SEO-friendly anchor text should be concise and descriptive. While there is no set length for anchor text, it is best to keep your link text as brief as possible. The terms you use in your anchor text should take into account two major factors:

  • What is the most straightforward and accurate description of the linked-to page?
  • What phrase or word would entice users to click on a link?

4. Add A Noindex Tag or Remove The Page (if the landing page is no longer in use)

website codes animation

While much of SEO focuses on getting your high-quality content indexed and seen, there are some pages you may not want to appear in SERPs. The noindex tag instructs search engine web crawlers not to index a page or website, effectively removing it from the SERP.

A noindex meta tag is an HTML value instructing search engines not to index a page. Using a noindex tag assists in distinguishing valuable and curated content from other pages that are used to improve the user experience. This is a useful tool for pages you do not want to appear in SERPs.

When should I noindex a webpage?

There will inevitably be some pages that are not beneficial to your rankings or are not intended for the general public. As an example:

  • Pages with identical or similar content, the same URL, page title, title tags, or body content may compete to be seen. Most crawlers will only choose one version, which might not be the one you want.
  • Pages that don't have much to say or aren't made to appear in search results. These pages usually make readers or customers happy, but they aren't built for SEO or to appear in search results. Some examples of these kinds of pages are thank-you pages, newsletters, and sign-up and log-in pages.

Want To Be At The Top Of Search Engine Results Pages?

Although there is no direct control that allows website owners to choose or remove sitelinks, you can use the information provided above to control which sitelinks appear in Google's search results.

However, if you're not getting the results you want despite your best efforts, it's time to hire local SEO Miami experts.

With the help of our tried-and-true SEO strategies, we at Digital Resource can help you crawl to the top of SERPs.

Contact us today to find out how we can help you promote your company online.

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